Paying The Price
by Council
Summary: All Might defeated his rival, All For One, but the price was higher than anyone could have imagined. The symbol of peace is dead, and the world has become a darker place. Izuku struggles with the destiny forced upon him, while Uraraka's life is thrown into turmoil by the collapse of her family business due to new crime. Izuku/Uraraka. Darker, AU world. and non-canon characters.
1. Chapter 1

**My Hero Academia**

 **Paying the Price: Prologue**

 **All Might defeated his rival, All For One, but the price was higher than anyone could have imagined. The symbol of peace is dead, and the world has become a darker place. Izuku struggles with the destiny forced upon him, while Uraraka's life is thrown into turmoil by the collapse of her family business. Izuku/Uraraka. Darker world. Death. AU, non-canon characters. Rated M.**

* * *

All for one was defeated.

In an emotional and shocking turn of events All Might had defeated his greatest enemy. The world cheered as they watched, helicopters soaring above him in the cloudy, dust-stirred night sky live-streaming the event. All Might slowly rose to his feet, a gigantic, triumphant smile on his face and stuck a finger out to the cameras.

"Next, it's your turn!"

Two hours later, All Might passed away.

* * *

Izuku watched the fight between his favourite hero and his arch nemesis unfold on a large television surrounded by some of his classmates. He was reaching up on his toes, trying to crane his head above the taller adults that surrounded him. When All Might finally won, devastating his opponent with his ultimate move 'The United States of Smash!', Izuku cheered as loudly as the rest of the world did.

He walked away from the scene with his friends. Bakugo was strangely quiet, and Todorki was as pensive as ever, but the others made enough noise to compensate for their friends. A buzzing in his pocket alerted Izuku. He withdrew his phone, which had an All Might keychain hanging off the end and an All Might case wrapped around the expensive device. Izuku slowly drew back from his friends to answer it when he saw the dialler name on the screen.

"A-All Might? Are you alright? Should you be calling me right-"

"Midoriya-kun!" All Might began, but he broke into a series of violent coughs. Even over the phone, Izuku could tell that All Might was in a lot of pain. Despite the pain, All Might continued to talk.

"I do not have much time, young Midoriya-Kun," All Might said weakly. "I need to see you. One more time. Please, can you come to the infirmary."

"What? All Might? What are you talking about?" Izuku shouted. His exclamation made his friends turn around, worriedly looking at him.

"Please, young Midoriya-Kun. I'll explain when you arrive. Grant an old fool one last wish."

"O-Of course! I'm on my way!" Izuku replied quickly, but All Might broke into another series of lung retching coughs, and the phone was disconnected. Izuku wasn't even sure if All Might had heard his response.

"That was my mum," Izuku shouted to his friends. "I've got to go pick up some food from the shops for her. I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Wait, Deku, you useless piece of shit!" Bakugo shouted, but Izuku had already activated Full Cowling, and had dashed away from them. It was obvious that his friends hadn't believed him, but none of them had the energy left after tonight's ordeal to chase after Izuku.

Izuku dashed to a wall of a building and dug the edge of his boots into an uneven crevice in the brickwork. He launched himself upwards towards the rooftops. He ran directly to UA academy, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. All the while, adults drank and ate in the small, familiar restaurants beneath him. Izuku heard the sounds of celebration and the echoing shout of "kanpai", as people everywhere celebrated another one of All Might's victories.

The cheers left Izuku with a heavy feeling in his gut however, as the uneasy silence after the shout while people downed their drinks made the city seem like it was missing something important.

He arrived at UA, panting, and feeling more exhausted than he had all night. Most of the campus lights were off, and there were definitely no other students around this late at night. The only sign of life was the illuminated window on the first floor, and the soft glow of hallway lights creeping out from the curtained window. Izuku ran to the front doors of the main building, wondering how he was going to get inside until a dark shadow fell in front of him.

Tired eyes surrounded by bandaged and long messy hair stared at Izuku. With a slight nod Eraserhead pointed to a nearby window. Without another word Izuku jumped through the window and ran to the infirmary. He blew through the door, surprising the occupants within. A part of Izuku's perceptive mind noticed that the UA teachers in the room immediately jumped into a battle stance and only settled when they recognised their student.

However, most of Izuku's concentration was on the thin, feeble man lying on the bed. Blemishes of blood marred the otherwise bleach white sheets that All Might lay on. His breathing was harsh, and ragged. He seemed to struggle with every breath and was clenching his whole upper body as he gasped for air.

"Young… Midoriya-kun. Thank you… for coming," All Might wheezed. He twisted his head slightly on the pillow, glancing at the space behind his green haired pupil. "Thank you, friends, for being here for me, but I'm afraid I need some time alone with Midoriya-kun."

Recovery Girl tried to protest, but All Might interrupted her.

"I know."

She swallowed hard, her eyes glistening as she looked away from All Might. She ushered everyone out of the room, until it was just Izuku and All Might left.

"All Might, I-"

"First, Midoriya-kun," All Might interrupted, "I must applaud you on your wonderful efforts tonight. I have never been prouder of anyone in my life than when I saw you rescue Bakugo without injuring yourself in the process. It was an incredible sight for your teacher to see."

Izuku felt his cheeks reddening as All Might praised him. He dropped his head to the floor, unable to look into All Might's eyes, but rough, calloused fingers slowly pulled at his chin, tilting it up.

"Second," All Might continued, staring directly at Izuku. "Izuku, can I call you Izuku?"

He nodded, and All Might's face broke into a grin, which quickly disappeared as he began coughing again. Blood splattered the front of his shirt and more of the white bed sheets, but All Might simply wiped his lips and continued speaking.

"Izuku, I must apologise. I haven't been… entirely honest with you, and I'm afraid my cowardice has now put you into a situation you never deserved to be in."

"All For One had been defeated, but his legacy lives on. Just as you were my successor, Izuku, All For One had a successor. Tomura Shigaraki. It seems fate has entwined you two, as you have already had several encounters."

Izuku recalled the time at the shopping mall, when Tomura had taken him hostage. He could recall the man's flaking, thin fingers itching around his throat. He remembered his primal fear and anger when Uraraka had appeared. He didn't know what he would have done if Tomura had attacked her.

"Just as I passed One For All onto you, Izuku, Tomura Shigaraki has inherited All For One."

Izuku felt cold dread seep through his body, chilling his bones. The fight between All Might and All For One was still clear in his mind. He had felt relief that All For One was gone, and that no one would ever have to worry about such an horrific quirk. He had been wrong.

"And just as I was destined to fight All For One, you will eventually have to face Tomura Shigaraki. I'm sorry, Izuku. I never wanted you to shoulder this burden."

"Then why didn't you tell me!" Izuku shouted. "You could've told me at the start. Before I swallowed your hair. You should've let me know that you were just training me up to fight a madman."

"Izuku-" All Might coughed, more blood spurting out, "There's… more…"

"There's more?" Izuku asked. He knew his mentor was in pain, and he knew he was being unreasonable, but he was struggling to remain calm.

"Tomura Shigaraki, is my master's grandson. Please, when you… finally face him… try and save him."

"Save him? But All Might, he tried to kill you! He threatened to kill me!" Izuku thought of the way Tomura stared at Uraraka, the way his eyes narrowed as he contemplated killing her. Izuku shuddered. He knew that he would never be able to save Tomura. He was beyond saving.

"I know… that it's a selfish request, but it's my… final request."

Suddenly, Izuku realised how much pain All Might was in. The thin man was shaking. His blond hair was sprawled over his pillow. There was so much blood staining the sheets. Izuku finally realised why All Might had truly called him over here.

"Izuku. You were like… my son… to me."

All Might drew one last ragged breath.

"Live… plus… ultra… Izuku…"

* * *

That was the night that the world lost their symbol of peace.

Semester holidays, although usually a joyous occasion for students and teachers alike, was an unusually somber period. Without the symbol of peace protecting the world, everyone felt the world darken. Alleyways felt darker. People crossed the road when they saw hooded figures walking towards them. Crime was on a rise for the first time in 17 years. The cold winter weather additionally sapped away any relief Izuku was hoping to feel during the break.

UA academy had three weeks off for the semester break. Izuku spent most of the time either working out or sitting in his room staring emptily at the ceiling. Other friends from the 1-A classroom occasionally messaged him, but he either ignored them, or replied with very simple messages.

Surprisingly, his mum had been very happy with Izuku's subdued behaviour. After all of the times she had seen him come home injured, bruised and battered, a return to the quiet, mundane Deku was a relief for her. She spoiled him by making his favourite meals every night (mainly chicken katsu with rice), and the two of them spent many quiet nights simply watching movies and comical television shows.

The day before school began, the two were in the middle of their movie watching (a superhero movie, it just so happened to be), when Inko brought up the conversation they had both been avoiding all holiday.

"Izuku," she began gently, "are you sure you want to return to UA this semester?"

"Mum, what are you saying?" Izuku exclaimed.

"It's just… a lot has happened recently," she replied sadly. "You always come home with broken bones and blood on your clothes. I always thought you'd be safe because All Might was teaching at the school, but now…" She trailed off, especially after seeing Izuku's face drop after hearing his master's name.

They watched the movie in silence. The hero was being defeated by the villain. It didn't seem like there was anything the hero could do to win. The whole world was at stake and the villain was winning.

"I don't know mum," Izuku eventually said softly. "All my life, all I wanted to do was be a hero. To be like All Might. But now, I don't know what to do."

"Why not sweetie?" She asked, resisting the urge to leap over the couch and wrap her son up and bawl into tears.

"I-" Izuku paused. His mum didn't know about One For All. She didn't know that he was All Might's successor. He had been able to keep the secret so far, but the recent events were too much for him, and his emotions overflowed.

"All Might lied to me. He told me he chose me to inherit his quirk, but he never told me what would happen when he did. He never told me I'd have to fight All For One. I didn't ask for any of this!" Izuku grabbed a pillow and threw it at the television as hard he could. Before the pillow could collide with the television, it slowed its descent, before hovering into Inko's outstretched arms.

"Usually, I'd be quite angry," Inko said softly, her fingers digging into the pillow. "But, even if All Might irresponsibly dumped this all on you, I've never seen you happier Izuku."

"For every day you'd walk through our door wrapped up in bandages, another day you'd walk through grinning from ear to ear, regaling me story after story of your friends and All Might. As much as it hurt me, I had to let you be the person you were meant to be."

"Mum, I'm not the right person for this. I'm not All Might. I'm not the person to save the world," Izuku said angrily.

"Not yet sweetie. But one day you will be." Inko shuffled over the couch towards Izuku, and wrapped her arms around him. "And when the time comes, I know that there's no one else in the whole entire universe I'd trust to protect us more than you Izuku."

And with that, Inko lost it, and burst into tears. Izuku, in similar fashion, burst into tears as well. It was the first time he had cried. All the emotions he had been holding in since All Might had passed away all came flooding to the surface.

The movie was finished by the time both mother and son had composed themselves.

"Listen Izuku, I want you to go back to UA," Inko said firmly.

"What? But mum-"

"I don't like it! I don't want to see you hurt. I hate it every time I hear you've been in a fight. But it's the only place you belong. I want to see you smile. I want to see you full of energy, trying to protect the world. And if All Might isn't around to be your motivation, then you'll just have to find something else to keep you going."

"Mum, I-"

"And I know that 'that something' is at UA. It's a mother's instinct Izuku, and I know you must go back.

"Mum-"

"I'm not taking no for answer. You're going back to UA Izuku!"

There was an awkward silence in the air. The television at this point had flickered over to the generic power saving mode, and Izuku watched the small television logo bounce around the screen.

"Thank you, mum," Izuku said softly.

"I'll always be your number one fan Izuku," Inko said proudly.

"I need to get ready for school tomorrow! I'm not ready at all. I don't even know where my uniform is." Izuku stood up in a rush, beginning to mumble and show his first signs of panicking. Inko smiled. He may be panicking but he was back to his normal self.

"I just washed it sweetie. It's sitting on your bed."

"Thanks mum, you're the best," Izuku shouted from his bedroom."

"That's what mums are for," Inko said to herself softly, before picking up the newspaper from below the coffee table. At the top of the page, in large bolded messages, the top news story glared at her.

"Fire quirk wielder burns down another home, family of four proclaimed deceased," Inko murmured to herself.

"Oh Izuku. Please be safe."

* * *

Uraraka Ochaco lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Usually she'd be on her phone texting Tsuya or Iida, or maybe even Deku, but currently she had no phone. In fact, she had little of anything.

For the past few years, her family hadn't been doing well. Her father owned a construction business that he had inherited from his father. What was once a renowned, wealthy company though had fallen apart. Her family had been in debt.

Uraraka had tried to help by entering the hero course, and eventually end up as a wealthy hero, pulling in large amounts of money. Her parents had been very supportive at first, and happily paid the expensive fees for her to attend UA academy. She had been performing extremely well, even managing to enter the top 8 students during the UA sports festival. Everything had looked to be on track.

Then All Might died.

The changes were subtle at first. Her father had to pay some more for building materials. Then her mother stopped buying her sweets and new clothes during the semester break.

Then, three days ago, the debt collectors arrived.

The money that her father owed belonged to a loan shark. Although the deals made between them, from what Uraraka could tell, had been under the table, the deal had always been respected.

Now crime was on the rise. Without the symbol of peace, villains all over the place were becoming bolder and more active. The debt collectors had ransacked the house, taking whatever belongings they wanted. Uraraka grimaced as she remembered that a lot of her personal clothes and undergarments had also been taken by the creeps.

She rolled over in the bed and buried her face into the pillow. She refused to cry. She was stronger than that.

In addition to her privacy being invaded, they had also taken her phone and laptop. Even if she wanted to contact someone, she wouldn't have been able to. The only thing safe was her hero suit, which was tucked between the mattress and the floor.

"Tomorrow will be better," she whispered to herself. She turned her light off, curled into bed dressed in her last set of pyjamas and pulled the blankets around her.

"I'll get to go to UA, I'll be able to talk to my friends, Izuku will be there, and everything will be better."

She didn't really believe it, but she had to tell herself something to get herself to sleep. Nevertheless, despite how much she lied, she still fell asleep thinking about a certain green haired boy with cute freckles.

* * *

 **Hello world of ff. What's up. For those who don't know, I've been away for a long time. I may have put up the occasional chapter for a harry potter ff, but it's been pretty weak. However, I'm back. I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing, and My Hero Academia is an awesome anime, so I feel some potential here.**

 **This piece is... a bit unique. It follows anime canon until the All For One/One For All fight. I haven't read the mange (no spoilers please), and everything from here on else is not canon. It's going to be a pretty strong romance story (I ship deku and uraraka so much 3 ), but with a lot of darker tones, and a lot more villains.**

 **All and any feedback is welcome. I've received enough "fuck you you suck" reviews in the past that I'm not afraid to hear more of them 🙂**

 **All reviews will be rewarded with a border collie puppy carrying a basket full of your favourite krispy kreme donuts and $194.39 entering your life ;) (Please read the terms and conditions, not all rewards guaranteed upon completion)**

 **With any hope, you'll here from me again within a few days.**

 **Cheers,**

 **Council**


	2. Chapter 2

**My Hero Academia**  
 **Paying the Price: Chapter 2**  
 **Pink Hope**

* * *

The first day of the second semester for UA academy was a surprisingly sunny day, a stark contrast to the cold winter holiday that had just passed. Izuku basked in the sunlight on his walk into school, realising that it was the first time since All Might's death that he had simply been outside, taking his time like a normal teenager.

He missed All Might incredibly. He knew it wasn't just him. The whole world felt like they were missing something special they had once taken for granted. However, Izuku's once blind fascination for the incredible hero was still somewhat subdued. He felt like his teacher had manipulated him.

Izuku knew that there was more going on than just himself, and that, if the positions were reversed, Izuku probably would have done the same. Even so, he wished All Might had been honest from the start.

"Would I have still taken One For All if I had known about All For One at the start," Izuku murmured to himself, starting to fall down a path of manic self-muttering.

"I mean, sure, I always wanted to be a pro hero, and I always wanted to be like All Might, but I was also scared of Kacchan and almost everything else in my life. I only accepted with All Might because it didn't sound like there was anything scary to worry about…"

Izuku looked down at his hands and forearms. Jagged scars marred his skin, and the cold winter weather generally made his old wounds ache.

"If I'd never taken One For All I'd never have gotten these scars either. I'd just be in a regular school, continuing to watch heroes fight on the news every night…"

"On the other hand, if All Might never made me his successor, I never would have gotten a chance to prove myself to the world."

Clenching his fist, despite the pain that his scars caused him, Izuku nodded his head resolutely.

"All Might passed his legacy onto me. I have to honour my master. Wondering what could have been will only weaken my resolve!"

"Umm… Deku, are you done talking to yourself?"

Izuku screamed in surprise, and turned around to find Uraraka leaning in closely to him, a concerned look in her brown eyes. She jumped and screamed when Izuku screamed as well, causing Izuku to scream even louder.

They both fell silent, and glanced at each other, blushing.

"Sorry about that, Uraraka-san," Izuku said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Eh, it's ok, I'm sorry too Deku."

They walked in comfortable silence for a while. Izuku noticed that Uraraka seemed to be in a good mood. Her step had a bounce to it that was making her school skirt swish around her legs. Izuku glanced away, his cheeks reddening, when he realised he was staring at Uraraka's thighs. She wasn't skinny like Momo was, but Uraraka had assets no one else in his class could compare to.

Shaking his head to clear his mind of such thoughts, Izuku tried to start a conversation with her instead.

"So… good holiday?" Izuku face palmed internally. What a lame start.

"Umm… Yeah! I guess it was good!" Uraraka had paused at first, as if she wanted to say something else. Izuku was curious, but he didn't want to pry. If she wanted him to know, she'd tell him herself.

"Oh that's good then. Sorry I didn't reply to any of your messages throughout the break. With everything that happened, I really didn't feel like chatting to anyone. Oh! But I'm feeling better now. Mum talked to me and really helped me feel better!"

"Oh… yeah, that's alright," Uraraka replied quietly. She had lost the skip in her step, and the swish of her skirt now. "Ahaha, it's no wonder you didn't reply to anything I sent then! Ahaha!" She laughed loudly, and again, Izuku felt like something was off.

"I've uh, I've got to go and see Momo. See ya Deku!"

Izuku watched as she ran off. A part of him wanted to chase after her, grab her hand and ask her what was wrong. She was already gone though, her brown bob of hair disappearing through the main entrance to UA. He'd text her later, he thought to himself, nodding in conviction.

* * *

Walking into the UA 1-A classroom felt familiar and nostalgic to Izuku. Most of the class had already arrived and was divvied up into their little social groups, sitting on desks and chatting happily.

Uraraka was chatting with Momo and Toru in a corner of the room. Momo was sitting at her desk, alert and upright with good posture, a strong telling of her wealthy background. She flicker her black hair over her shoulder, and caught Izuku's eye from across the room. She gave him a small smile and a wink. Izuku blushed slightly, but smiled back, returning the gesture.

Momo had been there the night they had saved Bakugo. Izuku felt that he shared a special bond with everyone that helped him in that mission, but particularly with Momo, as without her quick thinking and quirk, they would never have been able to track down Bakugo in the first place.

"Speak of the devil," Izuku murmured, as the classroom sliding doors blew forwards with an explosion. The blond, explosive, spiky haired boy stormed in. Bakugo was always one to make entrance, and the recent events had not dulled that aspect of his.

"Deku! You useless shit," Bakugo shouted, stomping towards him. Izuku faltered, hoping a fight wasn't going to break out.

"K-Kachhan?"

Bakugo stopped in front of Izuku, fists clenched, and he looked ready to shout something more abrasive at the green haired teen. At the last moment though he seemed to catch himself. He instead gave Izuku a single nod, before dumping his backpack on his desk.

Izuku felt himself releasing a sigh of relief. He was also struggling not to smile. It may not have seemed like much from an outsiders view, but Deku knew that the nod meant a lot more than it let on. Maybe Bakugo wouldn't be quite so horrible to work with this semester.

"Oi, rich bitch! Get your ass over here!" Bakugo shouted at Momo.

Or… maybe not. Izuku sighed. Some things would never change.

"Hm? And what makes you think I'm going to listen to anything you say?" Momo countered back, her voice level, but devoid of her usual kind tone.

"Grrr…" Bakugo growled, before bringing both his hands up to his hair and shaking it viciously in frustration. "If you ever track me down with a fucking bug again, I'll fucking kill you, you got it! That's a violation of privacy!"

Momo just raised her eyebrows at him, before flicking her fingers in a dismissive fashion, and went back gossiping with the girls. Izuku was worried that Bakugo would retaliation, but he seemed content to leave things where they were.

Mineta was seated beside Izuku this semester, and as Izuku sat down, the purple blobbed hair teen begun whispering to him.

"Oi, oi, oi, you think with everything you guys did for the asshole he'd be a bit more grateful," Mineta whispered. Izuku glanced nervously over at Bakugo. Mineta whispering was a lot louder than the perverted teen thought. Bakugo either didn't hear though, or was pretending to ignore the gossip.

"Kachan's not that bad," Izuku defended.

"But he hasn't said anything nice to anyone since he got back!" Mineta whined.

Izuku glanced at Bakugo again, who seemed relatively content, his feet propped on his desk lazily, and picking his nose with his finger. Meanwhile, Momo at the back of the classroom was sporting a small smile on her face every time her eyes darted in Bakugo's direction.

"I think that's just Kachan's way of thanking us."

Aizawa entered the classroom at that point, and the students all quickly returned back to their desks. Even Bakugo took his feet off the desk.

"Uhh… let's see…" Aizawa began. If Izuku thought that the teacher had looked tired last semester, it was nothing compared to now. The dark rings under his eyes seemed to have stretched all the way across his face. "Class president, why don't you start things off for us."

"Yes, sensei!" Iida shouted, bolting upright from his chair, several pencils rolling off the side from the commotion.

And like that, school begun as usual.

* * *

It was lunchtime, and the girls were gathered around a table in the cafeteria. The first day of the semester was prone to have slightly better food at the cafeteria, and it was no exception this time. Chicken katsu with rice and a serving of fresh steamed vegetables were served neatly on a simple white plate. Momo, Uraraka and Toru were sitting at the table, and were joined by Tsuyu.

"Ochaco-chan, what happened over the holiday, kero," Tsuya asked. As usual, her face appeared vacant of most emotion. Her deep, green pupils stared at Uraraka unblinkingly.

"Yeah, you didn't respond to any of my messages," Momo added.

"Erm… well…" Uraraka didn't know how to respond. She was uneasy opening up, and was about to lie, but a part of her admonished herself for thinking that. Who else could she open up to if not her friends?

"My family business isn't doing very well," Uraraka admitted. "I didn't think things were that bad, but apparently Dad was barely making ends meet. After All Might well…" Everyone's eyes fell, thinking back to the night their favourite passed away.

"Things changed, I guess," Uraraka continued. "Dad was coming home less, Mum wasn't buying as much, meals were simpler. And then, well, the debt collectors came. They took everything, even my phone and laptop."

"Kero… Ochaco-chan, I'm so sorry." Tsuya reached out, and rested her grippy hand on Ochaco's giving it a squeeze of support. A hint of emotion played at her eyes, and the frog-girl finally blinked, wiping away a drop of moisture.

"Ahaha, it's ok, it's ok!" Uraraka said, laughing loudly, trying to cover up her embarrassment. "I managed to hide my hero suit away, so it's not all to bad."

"But you have no phone, you poor thing," Momo said. "After school, you can come with me, and I'll buy you a new one!"

"No, no, it's ok. I couldn't," Uraraka said quickly, backpedalling.

"I insist. It's not safe for a girl to walk around without a phone," Momo said, her motherly instincts rising to the surface.

"I don't need your help!" Uraraka snapped, startling the girls at the table. They had never heard the sweet, bubbly girl get angry before.

"I- I'm sorry. I just… I need to do this on my own…"

Uraraka jumped a little as she felt something touch her other hand, but relaxed when she realized it was just the invisible girl, Toru.

"I understand Ochaco," Toru said. "It must be hard, but we don't want to look down on you. I'm sure you'll find a way through this."

It was always very hard to decipher what Toru was really feeling. With no facial expressions to observe, or even arm gestures, it was sometimes hard to figure out if the invisible girl was being serious, or something else.

Nevertheless, Toru sounded sincere, and Uraraka smiled at her, thanking her for the support. Momo still looked displeased, but dropped the subject.

"The most important thing, is that we're all still together at UA, kero," Tsuya said, and Uraraka felt better after hearing that than she had all holiday.

* * *

"Let's see, Uraraka Ochaco, to the principal's office," Eraserhead announced at the start of the final period.

Uraraka felt herself shrivel as the eyes of everyone in the class fell on her. Wanting to avoid the attention as soon as possible, she quickly stood up and left the classroom. She could hear the muttering as she walked past though.

"What happened?"

"I bet she's in trouble for something."

"Maybe she got into a fight!"

"Her? In a fight? Let's be serious…"

"Enough!" Eraserhead, for probably the first time that day, raised his voice and the class fell silent immediately. Uraraka sighed, and continued down the hall towards the principal's office.

She hadn't ever talked to Nezu, the principal, before. There were a lot of scary rumours about him. He had been experimented on by humans at a young age, and now had a deep-set hatred for all and any humans.

"No! No! No!" Uraraka said, shaking her head to clear the thoughts. She was letting her mind get the better of her. Plastering the happy smile on her face that she always wore, she knocked on Nezu's door.

"Ah, come in, come in!" Uraraka obeyed. She twisted the handle and stepped in, closing the door shut behind her. The office was very much what she expected. A comfortable couch off to the corner, a single bookshelf entirely stuffed full of books, and a large desk occupying the room. Paperwork was piled up on the desk. Nezu, however, was nowhere to be seen

"Ah, I'm behind here!" Nezu said, from behind the stack of papers, and walked around to the front of the desk. "You probably couldn't tell where I was, due to how short I am. It's ok! I'm not just short, I'm cute as well!"

Uraraka just stared. She didn't quite know what the proper response to this was.

"Please, close the door, and we can get started."

Uraraka glanced at the door. Funny, she could have sworn she closed it, but the eccentric principal must have surprised and confused her. With the door now closed, Nezu began speaking.

"Usually UA would be more strict about this kind of stuff, but considering you're part of class 1-A, and have been involved in some of the more… unsavoury, incidents," Nezu paused, grimacing as he recalled all the times his students had been in danger. "However, it can't be ignored any longer."

"I'm sorry principal Nezu. Am I in trouble?" Uraraka asked, trying to keep her cheerful smile up.

"In a way. Your semester fees are overdue. I tried to get in touch with your family over the holiday, but it appears your contact details have changed." Nezu rummaged around at his desk; flicking papers over until he found the one he was looking for.

"Aha, here you go. Just pass that onto your parents for me, and get them to transfer the money as soon as possible."

Uraraka grabbed the papers with shaking hands. She tried to calm them, and steady herself, but it was a losing battle.

"I've been very impressed with your efforts, Uraraka Ochaco. I hope to see you advance much further this semester," Nezu said, smiling pleasantly. When he didn't say any more, Uraraka took that as her cue to leave.

She felt like a zombie as she left, walking slowly down the corridor. Her parents contact details hadn't changed. She knew that as a fact. Her parents must have ignored the school fees. Must not have been able to afford them.

Then why didn't they tell her? Why would they let her find out like this? Uraraka wasn't feeling well. She couldn't tell if she was going to throw up, or burst into tears. Her fingers were clenched into a tight fist around the piece of paper that felt like a death warrant.

"I don't want to leave UA," Uraraka whispered to herself.

No longer feeling in control of her emotions, she made a detour to the bathroom. The moment she slammed the cubicle door shut behind her she broke down. Tears streamed down her face as she bawled, a hand over her mouth to stop the sounds escaping. Her hazel brown hair fell forwards into her eyes, blurring her vision. She fell onto the toilet, and clutched her face in her hands.

"Why is everything going wrong."

* * *

Izuku was struggling to pay attention in class. Uraraka had been gone for a long time now. Too long for what a conversation with Nezu should take. He pretended to watch as Eraserhead wrote down some mathematical equations on the blackboard, but his eyes kept drifting over to the sliding doors, waiting for Uraraka to return.

Something was definitely happening with Uraraka. Izuku had his suspicious on the walk into school, but now he knew something was definitely wrong. Uraraka had done nothing wrong. If anything, it should be himself, or Momo, that were sent to Nezu, for convincing their friends to rescue Bakugo.

The sounds of wooden doors sliding jerked the green haired teen's attention to the entrance, but it was just Toru, back from the bathroom. Sighing, Izuku returned to zoning out, and thinking of Uraraka.

It was strange how much he had taken Uraraka's smiling, carefree and supportive personality for granted. He had admired and leaned on her for support a lot during the start of the year. She was probably his first friend he made at UA. He wished he had thought of her more during the semester break. Maybe they could have even met up.

The loss of All Might had distracted Izuku, but he was more focused now. His mind was clear, and he knew what he had to do. He'd wait till this class was over. It was the final one of the day. Then, he'd grab Uraraka, and get her to talk to him. Satisfied with his plan, he tried to go back to paying attention to the lesson.

Uraraka didn't come back to the classroom though.

The other students noticed her absence too. There was the occasional muttering. Izuku tried to ignore the comments he could hear. He knew Uraraka better than them. She wasn't the type to do something wrong. Something else must have happened.

Even when the bell rang, announcing that school was over, Uraraka was nowhere to be found. The class quickly packed up and were out the door in moments, eager to be released from school. Izuku slowly packed up, waiting for the familiar bob of hazel hair to pop through the door, grinning from ear to ear as she always did. Once he finished his packing, he moved onto Uraraka's gear that she had left on her desk. He packed away her few pencils and notebook into her backpack. He vaguely noticed that she didn't seem to be carrying much in her backpack, and wondered if she'd forgotten some of her things, like her laptop, back home.

Even after packing her bag, Uraraka hadn't returned. He was really getting worried now.

"It's alright, Izuku," a female voice said softly, and he jumped, not realising that he had company.

It was just Momo. She was looking at Uraraka's bag a little sadly, as if she knew something that Izuku didn't.

"I'll stay and wait for her. I think I have an idea of what's happened," Momo said gently.

"You know what's going on with her?" Izuku asked desperately.

"Kind of," Momo replied, "but it's not my place to say. I'm sorry, Izuku. I'll wait for her though. You head home. There's nothing you can do for her tonight."

Izuku hesitated. He really, really wanted to stay and talk to Uraraka, and tell her that everything would be ok, but it seemed that his first friend had chosen to confide in someone else. Resigning himself, he slung his own backpack over his shoulder.

"Alright, thanks Momo. I'll see you tomorrow."

Momo waved goodbye as he left the classroom. Izuku was suspicious. He kind of wanted to hang back and spy on her. Something about the whole situation didn't feel right, but deep down he knew that he couldn't invade Uraraka's privacy by spying on her.

Sighing he began his walk back home alone.

* * *

"Did you have a good day, dear?" Inko asked her son as he walked through the door. She frowned when he didn't respond instantly. Usually her Izuku was full of energy when he came back from UA, bursting to tell her everything that had happened, and all the new heroes and quirks he had learnt about.

She supposed that there was more happening this semester than before though. The death of All Might was perhaps changing the school environment that Izuku loved so much.

Inko almost felt herself burst into tears at the thought, but she quickly controlled herself. It was a bad habit of hers to constantly cry, and she was trying to improve that.

Izuku hid himself in his room for most of the night. Eventually, she called out for dinner, and he made his way down the stairs slowly. The two ate their meal of curry and rice in relative silence.

"What is it sweetie?" she finally said, breaking the silence. "You know you can tell your me anything."

When Izuku didn't reply, but continued to push a piece of chicken around his plate with his spoon, she tried again.

"I want you to tell me things Izuku. I've spent most of this year in the dark about what goes on at UA. You never tell me anything, and I only ever find out that something's wrong when you're in the hospital again. I can't take it Izuku! I want you to tell me what's wrong!"

She was crying by the end of it, but she didn't let that weaken her words. She needed her son to let her in. Izuku was quiet for a while, but eventually did speak.

"Well… there's a girl."

Suddenly, Inko begun panicking. A girl? This wasn't what she expected. It definitely wasn't what she planned for. Oh no! What was she meant to say? Her little Izuku was all grown up. Oh no! She was going to cry again.

"Her names Uraraka. She was my first friend I made at UA. I was really excited to see her again today but… something's not right…"

Oh no… please don't tell me she has a boyfriend… please don't break my poor Izuku's heart. He's so young…

"She seems… sad, all the time. And she was called to the principal's office, and didn't return after. Her bag was almost empty as well. I think she forgot all her things this morning. I dunno, I know that I haven't actually seen anything wrong but… I'm just worried.

What if he gets married? What if he gets her pregnant? Do I need to have the talk with him? Oh god. I'm not qualified to do this. I haven't gone grocery shopping yet. I don't even have the banana.

"...Mum-" Inko was snapped out of her thoughts by Izuku. She blushed red at realising where her thoughts had derailed to, and concentrated on the problem.

"If you two were friends, then why don't you ask her what's wrong? I'm sure she'd appreciate it," Inko suggested.

"But, I tried after school, but I couldn't find her!"

"Why don't you try texting her then. That's what all the cool kids do, isn't it"

"Uhh, mum, you're so embarrassing…" Izuku complained, but the idea was planted in his mind. "But it's not a bad idea. Thanks mum! I'll go do that now!"

Before Inko could say another word, Izuku was running up the stairs to his room. She sighed, a silly smile on her face.

"That's the Izuku I know."

* * *

Uraraka was feeling better about things. She had Momo to thank for that. Uraraka had been waiting outside the classroom door, waiting until Izuku left. She felt bad, especially knowing that he had been waiting for her, but she wasn't feeling ready to face him. Her eyes had been red and puffy, and she wasn't able to keep a smile on her face.

Once he left she went to grab her backpack and tried to leave right away, but Momo stopped her. The thin girl took one look at Uraraka, sighed, and enveloped her in a big hug.

Momo had then palmed her a cell phone. When Uraraka protested, Momo put her foot down. She had made the phone with her quirk. It had cost her nothing, and for Uraraka to refuse would have been an insult to her.

With no choice but to accept, Uraraka took the phone gratefully.

It had a different number than her old phone, but that was ok, she could get everyone's contact details again.

The phone was cute and pink, with a love heart keychain dangling from the end of it. It was just a basic flip phone. Old school and out-dated, but Uraraka loved it. She smiled as she grabbed the phone and hugged it to her chest.

"Hehe, Momo's just like a mother, or an older sister!" Uraraka said to herself happily. The skip was back in her step, and her skirt was swinging side to side as she reached her home. Pocketing the phone so that no one would notice it, she opened the front door and stepped in.

"Mum! Dad! I'm home!" She called. There was no response, but she heard some noises coming from the living room. Dropping her bag off, she made her way to the living room, and poked her head around the corner.

She quickly whipped her head back behind the door when she realised who was in the room. Her mum and dad were sitting on the other side of the table, looking very downtrodden and defeated. On the other side was a man she didn't know the name of, but could easily remember the face. It was the loan shark that her father had borrowed money from.

The man was tall and imposing with broad shoulders and short, raven black hair. He exuded an aura of confidence and wealth. Uraraka had only seen him a few times, but he scared her. Horrified her. This man had the power to destroy their lives. She thought of the piece of paper stuffed inside her backpack. He was already in the process of ruining her life.

"I promise, we'll have the money by next fortnight."

"That's what you said last fortnight," the man said smoothly, not a trace of emotion in his voice.

"But… but we paid you last fortnight-"

"You only paid the interest. Things have changed."

"But you can't-"

"I can, and you would be wise to respect me. I can make your life a whole lot worse Mr. Uraraka."

"O-of course. My apologies, Mr. Yaoyoroza."

Uraraka clamped a hand over her mouth, preventing her gasp from alerting the occupants that she was spying. She crept away from the door, grabbed her backpack, and ran up to her room. She closed the door, locking it behind her, and begun frantically tearing her bag apart.

She finally found the pink flip phone that Momo had made for her. She stared at it, remembering just minutes ago when the plastic device had provided her with such comfort.

She threw it at the ground as hard as she could. The plastic shattered. The hinge fell apart and the two pieces of the flip phone separate. Uraraka stamped her boots on the phone, shattering the screen. She screamed as she smashed the phone over and over.

Momo's father was the loan shark. There was no one Uraraka could trust anymore. She didn't know what to do.

She fell on the bed. She didn't cry. She was out of tears. She just laid there, her face buried in her pillow.

"Why is everything happening to me," she said softly to the lonely, empty room.

The silence was her only response.

* * *

 **Aight fam, lemme break it down for y'all.**

 **For those asking, that is a no to the UA Dorm situation happening. Everything after the All Might/All for One fight is going to be non-canon. I don't like re-writing already made plots.**

 **Some of the characters seem OOC? That's true, and intentional. I'll get bored if I write the same characters as in the show. I enjoy being able to spread my metaphorical glamourous and eagle-like wings when I write. Literally.**

 **On that note, as the story progresses, you're going to notice a lot of the 'Good Guy' characters become... not so good guys. I'm trying to create a darker world, where the line of good and bad isn't so clear cut. I am honestly very sorry if this means one of your favourite characters does change. It's just how the metaphorical peanut butter and choc-chip cookie crumbles. Literally.**

 **Finally, thanks for the reviews, I love the support, keep it coming, and you'll get more metaphorical peanut butter and choc-chip cookies coming your way!**

 **p.s. there's a new pairing in the works. I won't spoil it, but I'll say that if you scroll up to the summary of this story, you might spoil it yourself ;)**

 **Cheers,**

 **Council**


	3. Chapter 3

My Hero Academia

Paying the Price: Chapter 3

Exposure

* * *

Uraraka woke up in the morning, not from the aggravating sound of an alarm clock, but from the natural sunlight slicing through the gaps in her pink curtains. Alarm or no, she was still groaning as she pulled herself out of bed, rubbing her bleary eyes. She was dressed in nothing more than a blue, oversized t-shirt and pink knickers underneath, one of the few cute pairs of underwear that hasn't been seized from her room.

Sighing, she walked over to her wardrobe, but winced when she stepped on something sharp.

"Fu-fu-fu…" She hissed, glancing at her foot. It was a piece of the pink mobile phone that Momo had made for her, smashed on the ground. Her mood worsening, Uraraka kicked the remains under her bed, and proceeded to get dressed for the day.

Her hair tame, the bags from her eyes mostly gone, and dressed in her school uniform, Uraraka bounced down the stairs.

"Mum! Dad?" She called, but there was no answer. She stepped into the kitchen, noticing a distinct lack of any breakfast. Even the bread bin was empty. There was a note on the table that her parents must have left for her, but she ignored it.

Hungry, without a cell phone, or any money to buy food, Uraraka resigned herself to a long day until her parents were home for dinner.

The walk to school was uneventful, and there was little to take Uraraka's mind off of her grumbling stomach. Eventually, the large gates of UA were in front of her, and a familiar mop of green hair was visible to her. She didn't want to make a scene, unlike her usual self. She was tired, hungry, and quite depressed if she were honest. Still, she knew that it would be nice to talk to Deku, one of her still remaining friends.

And yet, as she got closer, Deku seemed to ignore her. His eyes briefly flickered over to her once, but he quickly slipped off, disappearing in the early crowd of students. A frown growing on her face, she stomped past the other students, not minding if she pushed through them, and made her way to the classroom.

The classroom was full of the early morning energy buzz that all schools had. It would disappear very, very quickly once the bell rang, but until then, everyone was looking lively and awake. It was a stark contrast to Uraraka, who dumped her bag under her desk, grabbed her few supplies out and laid them on the desk, and then rested her head in her arms on the table.

She was content to stay like that until Eraserhead started homeroom, but was interrupted by the last person she wanted to see.

"Good morning Uraraka. I had trouble contacting your new phone last night. Is everything alright?" Uraraka peeked up, glaring at Momo from beneath her brown hair that flicked over her eyes. Momo visibly reeled back when she saw the hatred in Uraraka's eyes. It was understandable. Uraraka had spent the whole year trying to win everyone over. She had always been full of smiles and support, and never once showed anger.

Now, Momo was receiving the full brunt of the small girls anger, and it sent a chill down her spine. Uraraka was furious. It was Momo's dad's fault that her family was in such financial stress. She must know about how much harm her dad was causing Uraraka, and yet Momo still had the gall to pretend to be concerned for her.

"As if you don't already know," Uraraka spat, her voice laced with venom. "Just leave me alone. I have enough to worry about without you bothering me."

Momo seemed about to say something, but hesitated. She swallowed roughly,

"Fine then," the dark haired girl replied stiffly, and left Uraraka alone to her thoughts.

Uraraka rested her head in her arms again, letting her brown locks of hair curtain her face. She knew that people in the class were beginning to stare at her oddly. Mineta was eyeing her rather weirdly, but she supposed that was normal for him.

Finally, Eraserhead appeared, looking even more tired than Uraraka felt, and class began.

* * *

"Hello! Uraraka-chan!" The brown haired girl started, before realising the voice came from the invisible body of Toru.

"Hey there," Uraraka replied with a drained voice. Her stomach rumbled at the same time, and she felt her face redden in embarrassment.

"Ready for lunch are ya?" Toru asked happily. "I was just about to head on down to the cafeteria and buy some lunch. Wanna join me?"

Uraraka desperately wanted to say yes, but the lack of money in her purse was telling her otherwise. She didn't really want to admit that much to Toru though.

"Ahaha, I forgot my wallet at home, I guess. Sorry, maybe next time Toru." Uraraka watched as Toru's floating gloves crossed over each other.

"I'll pay then. My treat!"

Uraraka was about to argue, but her stomach rumbled once more. Sighing, she smiled up at the invisible girl.

"Thanks Toru. That would be really nice."

The two girls made their way down to the cafeteria together, light-hearted conversation bouncing between them. It was mainly about the guys in the 1A class, and worry about the upcoming semester. Uraraka found herself relaxing. She didn't quite know why Toru was being so nice. The invisible girl had never been outright mean or anything, but she also hadn't spent much time with Uraraka until... well, yesterday.

Still, Uraraka was happy to have another friend, and the more the two talked, the more the familiar happy smile, and rosy cheek blush in her cheeks appeared.

Uraraka settled down at a small circle table, just big enough for the two of them, while Toru purchased two bowls of udon from the lunch lady.

"Dig in!" Toru exclaimed eagerly when she returned, and Uraraka wasted no time cracking open her chopsticks. The warm, slimy noodles were delicious and filling; full of carbs that her body desired so badly. There were cuts of battered chicken on a side plate, which disappeared into Uraraka's mouth in the first minute.

"You are hungry, aren't you?" Toru commented, laughing. Uraraka just chuckled in response.

"Thank you so much for this Toru," Uraraka said gratefully once she had gulped down the remaining soup.

"Mhmm," Toru replied gently. "So. Why the lack of money?"

Uraraka paused. She remembered why she hadn't been able to be close friends with Toru last semester. The girl often spoke her emotions, but occasionally, her voice was devoid of them. Without any facial cues, it was incredible difficult to figure out what the invisible girl was thinking.

"Wh-what do you mean? I told you, I just forgot my wallet-"

"It's ok Uraraka, you don't have to lie to me. You haven't brought lunch to school in the past two days. You haven't purchased any food. You don't seem to have a mobile phone anymore."

"I-uh. It's not what you think Toru!"

"Could it be… your family's business isn't doing too well?"

Uraraka felt her blood chill.

"How did you know that?!"

"I just guessed," Toru replied evenly. It was impossible to determine her emotions. Was it pity? Was it sympathy?

Or was it something else that Uraraka didn't want to know.

"Anyway," Toru continued in her even voice. "If you wanted a way to make some money, I actually have something you might be interested in."

And, like that, she had her. Uraraka knew something was suspicious, but the idea of money was too hard to resist. She wished right now that she was like Toru, and that her face was hidden. Uraraka knew her poker face was terrible. Her red rosy cheeks and large brown eyes gave away every thought in her mind. She had most definitely lost this hand.

"Come on, there's still twenty minutes until lunch ends. We have time." Toru pushed their now empty food trays to the side, grabbed Uraraka's hand, and began leading her out of the cafeteria. Uraraka noticed Deku glance up at her. The moment their eyes made contact though, he looked away. Sighing, Uraraka resigned herself to being led by Toru.

They walked through the hallways, down the stairs, and outside to the gymnasium. Instead of entering the large building though, Toru detoured to the small utility shed that sat next to it. The door creaked open. The building wasn't dirty, or old by any standard, but compared to the rest of UA, it still felt grimy and dusty. Led lights flickered above her, making the grimy white walls appear empty and forlorn. Shelves containing a variety of gym equipment were lined up in the back, and several large crash mats littered the walls and floor.

At the single desk and chair, a single purple haired boy sat.

"Eugh…" Uraraka exclaimed softly under her breath. She had a pretty good idea what was going on now. Mineta had a laptop and a camera sitting at the desk, all prepped up, as if he had been waiting for her all along.

"Ochaco-chan!" Mineta cried, jumping off the chair, and running towards her with outstretched hands. Before he could close the distance, Uraraka sidestepped, placed a foot out to the side, and watched as the clumsy boy toppled over to the ground. She smirked. It was a small win for her, and the product of her hard work during her internship.

Mineta was relatively unphased though. He jumped back to his feet and returned to the desk.

"I'm so glad you came Ochaco-chan!" Mineta said, and the eagerness in his voice made Uraraka cringe. "I knew you'd come, but, y'know, it's good to be right sometimes!"

"I… don't think I want to be here," Uraraka said slowly, backing towards the exit slowly. She knew what the camera was going to be for. Uraraka backed into something solid though.

"Mmm, but if you leave, how else are you going to pay your school fees?" Toru asked from behind Uraraka, and the brown haired girl froze.

"How… how do you know everything?" Uraraka cried softly, tears beginning to well in her large brown eyes.

"Listen, Ochaco-chan," Mineta said, and Uraraka desperately wished he'd stop calling her that. "A single photo shoot, and I can sell the copies for enough, that I can give you enough money to pay for a whole terms schooling tuition."

Uraraka stood there, feeling both physically and mentally trapped. Tears began dripping down her rosy cheeks. She didn't want this. She didn't want to do this.

"It will only take five minutes," Toru whispered gently from behind her. Between her and the exit.

She had to do this. She didn't want to, but she had to. She had nothing else left in her life living for, except UA. If she lost this, what was the point of anything? Surely five minutes of shame would be fine.

"..." Uraraka swallowed heavily, before wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, and nodding. "Fine then." Her voice was defeated; empty.

"Yes!" Mineta shouted, pumping a fist in the air. "I knew I could count on you!"

Uraraka felt like she had sold her soul to the devil.

"Alright, start off by unbuttoning the top of your blouse. We'll get a few photos of you in the school uniform. Guys love that stuff… hmm… can you lift your skirt up a bit, show a bit more leg?"

Uraraka was in a daze. She blindly obeyed the instructions. She leant forwards, squeezing her arms together, letting her cleavage squish together. The snap and flash of photography hypnotized her. She laid down on the crash mat, and spread her legs apart when Mineta asked. She wished she'd worn a different pair of underwear, as Mineta snapped photos of her pink panties.

Her blouse eventually came off, the click of the camera marking every prolonged, anguished second. Mineta's purple eyes traced her bare skin, lingering on her breasts, covered only by a simple white bra. Uraraka couldn't hear Toru anymore, but she knew that the invisible girl was still in the room.

Uraraka bent over, her skirt falling down to her ankles. Mineta was taking photos from every angle. Every click of the camera tore at Uraraka's remaining hope, until she was left feeling empty and defeated.

"Almost done Ochaco-chan! You're doing amazing!"

Uraraka felt a flicker of hope. It was over. The worst five minutes of her life was over. She would be past it. She could pay the fees. She could become a hero. It would be alright.

"Just take your bra off for me, and then we're done."

Uraraka froze. The fog in her mind lifted, and suddenly she wasn't ready to just obey blindly. The photos that had been taken already were terrible. Disgustingly terrible. To take her bra off though, and have actual nudity… she shivered. She didn't want this.

"No… please… not that," Uraraka pleaded softly. She was on her knees on a crash mat, shivering in the cold in her underwear. She felt as bad as she looked.

"You have to, or you don't get the money," Toru said, speaking up for the first time.

And then the bell for lunch rang. She was saved. Saved by the bell.

Mineta was packing up his gear in a rush, shoving in the bottom of his backpack. He left the room running, seeming happy and satisfied with the results of his lunch.

Uraraka snapped out of her daze when an envelope slapped onto her bare legs. She glanced up, and saw Toru's gloves slipping through the door before it slammed shut. With shaking hands, Uraraka peeled open the envelope.

Toru hadn't lied. There was enough money in here for a terms worth of fees, but the wave of relief didn't come. Uraraka sat there, just staring at the green, rectangle pieces of paper.

Was it worth it?

For the rest of her life, she was going to remember this. It was going to be a part of her. Mineta would sell the copies. Everyone would see her. Even Deku would see her.

No. It wasn't worth it.

She pulled her clothes back on her, covering herself up as much as possible. She wished she had a blanket, or a large jumper to hide in.

The bell had rung. She had to get back to class.

She couldn't. She couldn't be in the same room as… the creep.

She left the utility shed, slowly opening the door, before creeping out. She felt like she was going to be sprung, that the whole world was watching her out of the corner of their eyes.

She couldn't go to class.

She detoured into the girl's bathroom, and slammed a cubicle door shut. Her bag dropped to the ground, the envelope of money stashed carefully inside.

And Uraraka cried.

* * *

Izuku found himself in a very similar situation to yesterday. He was in the classroom, pretending to watch as Eraserhead lectured, while his mind drifted. Mainly, it drifted to an empty chair in the room.

Uraraka's desk.

She hadn't come back to the classroom after lunch. It was… bothersome. Izuku knew he shouldn't worry. He had texted Uraraka last night. He had told her that he would always be there to talk to. He would always be her friend, and that he hoped to hear back from her.

Maybe he had been a bit too forward though, as Uraraka never replied. He had proceeded to give her space today as well. When she was ready, she'd respond to the message.

Still, he wished he could've done even more now. Staring at her empty desk, he felt like something had gone horribly wrong, and he wished he knew what was happening to the small, brown haired girl.

Izuku continued to let his mind drift all period. He didn't write a single note down from Eraserhead's lecture, and frankly, he really didn't care.

The period did end though, and as the students enjoyed their ten-minute break until the next teacher arrived, Momo approached Izuku.

"Izuku, can we talk outside?"

He nodded, and followed the raven-haired girl outside. Once out of earshot of their classroom, she turned around, a concerned frown on her face.

"Do you know what's happened to Uraraka?" Momo asked?

Izuku sighed, suddenly feeling even more helpless.

"No. I don't know why she was absent from class today."

"I see," Momo replied, her voice trailing off.

"I tried texting her last night, y'see," Izuku explained. "She didn't respond though. I thought I'd give her some space today, until she was ready to talk, but-"

"Wait. You texted her?" Momo said, starting.

"Uh- Yeah! I uh… was just checking in on her," Izuku started blushing, realising he had admitted to Momo about texting a girl.

"She has a new phone though."

"...What?" Izuku exclaimed loudly. A few students in the hallway turned to glance at him, and he quieted down. "Y'mean, she wasn't ignoring me?"

"No. She… well, I don't want to say all of it, as it is her story, but I made her a new mobile phone yesterday with my quirk."

Izuku groaned. "Then, I've just been an asshole, ignoring her all day. I thought I was being patient with her, but she must've thought I was just being a dick."

Momo smiled at the green haired teen. He was beginning to mutter to himself, one of his trademark traits.

"Don't worry. Uraraka's the kindest person I've ever met, she definitely isn't thinking those things about you," Momo reassured. "However, it probably wouldn't be a bad thing if you tried to call her anyway."

She flipped her cell phone out in an elegant move, and navigated to Uraraka's new number.

"Here, save it, and call her now."

Izuku didn't need telling twice. Glancing up and down the hallway for teachers (mobile phones were against the rules during school hours), and seeing none, Izuku hit the green dial button.

"The number you have called cannot be connected. Please try again later."

The dull buzz of an empty dial tone hung ominously in the hallway. The break between periods had ended, and the other students had returned to the classrooms.

"Are you sure your phone you made her works?" Izuku asked.

"Of course it does!" Momo said, insulted that someone would insult her quirk. "Something else must have happened. She must have lost it, or broken it, or someone may have…" Her voice trailed off, and Izuku knew that was more Momo wanted to say, but wouldn't.

"Oi!" A piercing loud shout echoed down the hallway. The two teens looked to see Hizashi, shouting at them with his microphone quirk. "You lovebirds need to get inside! Class is starting."

Izuku scampered inside. His cheeks were alight in embarrassment. Momo handled the situation with a lot more poise, and simply returned to her seat calmly. Izuku spotted her furrowed brows though, and knew that she was anything but calm.

Izuku glanced around the class, hoping that a certain brown haired girl would appear, but her seat was still empty.

The class was still dying down from the excitement of the break. Izuku noticed Mineta talking quite seriously with Sero and Kaminari. When Mineta returned to his seat beside Izuku, the green haired teen asked him what was up.

"I'll show you after class," Mineta said, winking at him. Izuku couldn't help but cringe. Whatever the purple haired teen was happy about, it was bound to be something perverted.

* * *

Class eventually ended, and Uraraka still hadn't shown up. Izuku knew he was becoming obsessed, but he couldn't get his mind off of the cute girl. She was the first friend he had made at UA. It was normal for him to be this worried, right?

Most of the class scattered immediately once the bell range, eager to return home. Izuku packed his bag slowly, hoping that Uraraka would return to gather her few remaining belongings she had left on her desk. Momo hung around as well, and when Izuku glanced at her, she gave him a weak smile. They were both thinking the same thing.

The quite peace between them was disturbed however, when the door to the classroom literally exploded inwards. Wood shrapnel blew across the classroom, causing a mess that the cleaners would not be happy about. The obvious cause of the explosion was none other than Bakugo. He always looked pissed off about something, but right now, he looked more irritated than his usual self.

Izuku grimaced as he approached him. Dealing with a normal Bakugo was hard enough.

"Deku ya piece of shit!" Bakugo shouted, slamming his fist onto the wooden table, splintering it in the middle.

"Y-y-y-yes, Ka-chan?" Izuku stuttered.

"Get your stupid ass over to the bathrooms!" Bakugo shouted.

"Eh? What do you mea-"

"DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF YOU DUMBSHIT DEKU! GET TO THE FUCKING TOILETS!" Explosions sparkled at the blond boys fingertips, threatening to disengage. Not needing another word from Bakugo, Izuku leapt off of his seat and scuttled out of the room.

"And you!" Izuku heard Bakugo scream at Momo. "You better go and check every fucking single one of the female fucking bathrooms!"

"How about you ask nicely, tempertrap."

"What's that? Do you want to fucking die! I'll fucking kill you!"

Bakugo's screams faded away as Izuku ran down the hallway. Bakugo rarely talked to him about anything. If it was, it was usually just about how Bakugo was going to kill him next time. This was definitely different.

In his rush and panic, he kicked in the door the boys bathroom. Sero and Kaminari were standing by sink, and jumped in shock as the door flew open.

"Oh… shit… it's just you Izuku," Sero said in relief. "Did Bakugo tell you we were here?"

"Er… yeah, he did," Izuku said, lying slightly. Bakugo hadn't said anything about the tape and electric quirk users being here. There appeared to be some papers, photos maybe, lying on the bathroom sink behind the teens.

"Oh cool," Kaminari said, looking a lot more comfortable. "He didn't buy any, but he said he was going to get some money. I guess he knew you would be pretty interested in these eh?" Kaminari winked at Izuku, who chuckled in return, not too sure how to response.

"Pay for what?" Izuku thought.

He walked forward; examining what was on the sink. The other boys stepped aside so Izuku could look. It took several seconds of staring before Izuku's mind caught up to him. He was staring at a picture of Ochako. She was half naked. There was more than one photo.

There was silence in the room, finally broken by Kaminari.

"Pretty sweet huh?"

And Izuku punched him in the face. There was no quirk involved. One For All didn't charge up. There was no cowling, just a simple punch to the face. Kaminari, taken by surprise, was launched off his feet, and fell onto his back with a loud thump.

"Ehh? What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sero shouted.

"I should be asking you that," Izuku growled. He turned towards Sero, his arm cocked and ready to punch, but several strands of sticky tape wrapped itself around his forearm. Izuku tried to yank his hand back, but Sero's tape was holding him firmly in place.

"It's just a bit of fun, you didn't have to punch me!" Kaminari complained, standing up and rubbing his bruising chin.

"You guys are terrible. How could you do this to one of your own classmates," Izuku shouted.

"Oh don't act so almighty," Sero argued. "We've seen you checking out Ochako in class. You're as guilty as us."

Izuku felt his face redden, and he knew he had been caught out. He couldn't help it. Lately, his mind had just been drifting towards Ochako more and more.

"That, and this, is nothing alike," Izuku growled. "Let me go. I'm telling Eraserhead."

Izuku waited for the tape to fall of his arms. Sero glanced at Kaminari, and they seemed to have a silent conversation, before nodding.

"Sorry Izuku. No hard feelings, but we really can't let you tell anyone," Sero said.

"So, promise not to tell Eraserhead, ok?" Kaminari finished.

"Like hell I will!" Izuku yelled, pulling at the tape at his arm, but to no avail.

"Sorry about this then," Kaminari said. The blond boy reached forwards with his hand, clapping Izuku on the back. On the third clap, Izuku felt his world explode. Every single nerve in his body was on fire. Stabbing pain erupted everywhere, which only continued to get worse. He felt his muscles tense and lock into place. In the back of his mind, through the haze of the pain, he could tell that the bathroom was flickering with electricity. He clenched his teeth together, forcing himself not to scream in pain.

And then it was over. Izuku collapsed to the ground, Sero's sticky tape the only thing keeping him upright. Kaminari was looking down at him with a silly grin on his face. It was hard to tell whether it was the side effects of his quirk, or whether he was just enjoying the situation.

"Now, you're going to promise not tell Eraserhead, Isn't that right Izuku?" Kaminari repeated.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku pushed the pain to the recessed of his mind. He let his furious emotions guide and sharpen his mind. He reached out to the source of power within him. Concentrating, the squeezed his green eyes shut, and let One For All seep into his limbs.

"Like," Izuku growled, pushing himself up onto his knees.

"Hell," He stood up, energy flittering down his arms, tickling the insides of his fingertips.

"I fucking will!" Izuku's green eyes snapped open, revealing the swirling power that lay within. Kaminari reached forward, his fingertips crackling and extended, but he was too late.

Izuku grabbed the sticky tape in his left hand, and swung it over his shoulder as hard as he could. Sero grabbed onto the edge of the sink to brace himself, but it wasn't enough. The sink tore out of the wall, pelting the boys with plaster and tile fragments. Sero felt himself being swung through the air, and he tried to dislodge the tape from his elbows. Before he could, he felt himself slam into the tiled wall. He coughed, blood spewing up. The sound of cracked ribs resonated and echoed in the bathroom.

The tape retracted, and no longer tied down Izuku spun around to face Kaminari. All the blond boy had to do was touch Izuku and the fight would be over.

As Kaminari reached forwards with his electrifiying fingers, Izuku poured power into his legs, and jumped over him. Kaminari desperately reached up, trying to touch even the edge of Izuku's foot, but he couldn't reach.

Izuku landed, and in a swift movement scooped up the broken sink.

"Wait, Izuku, I didn't mean to-" Whatever Kaminari was going to apologise for was never heard, as the porcelain sink smashed into his body, shattering and leaving cut marks all over his school uniform. Small drops of blood began staining the white shirt.

Sero was standing back up. He was clutching a hand over his broken ribs, but his other elbow was out, ready to fight. Izuku dashed forwards, and faster than Sero could react, sucker punched him in the head. Sero fell to the ground, knocked out instantly.

Izuku grabbed a toilet stall door and ripped it off it's hinges. The wood splintered as it pulled away from the metal, but was otherwise intact.

Not sparing any kindness, Izuku slammed the wooden door down onto Kaminari, preventing him from moving. The door was long enough that no matter how much Kaminari squirmed he couldn't touch Izuku at all.

"Where did you get the pictures?" Izuku growled, glaring at the boy beneath him. Kaminari didn't respond, so Izuku leant into the door, putting even more pressure on the boy underneath. He began coughing roughly.

"Alright… alright. It was Mineta. He took the photos. I had nothing to do with it. He just sold them to me," Kaminari said quickly.

"Where?"

"Eh… where?" Kaminari asked weakly. He yelped in pain as the door pressed on his chest again. "The sports shed! It happened in the sports shed! Mineta is there now!"

"...Fine," Izuku said, and Kaminari breathed a sigh of relief as the wooden door was released from his chest. His relief was shortened however, as the wooden door came swinging down. The door struck him across the head, soundly knocking him out.

With no more threats in the room Izuku began to calm down. He noticed his ragged, harsh breathing, and begun focusing on keeping a level breath. As he focused, the pain returned to his body. His nerves felt like they were on fire. The raw pain was unbelievable. He just wanted to collapse on a bed and let his muscles rest.

He couldn't though. He had one more job to do.

Izuku left the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him loudly. The bang echoed down the corridor, which was empty. All the students had left now. Izuku made his way down the stairs, his eys focused, his stride determined. He was heading towards the sports field. There were students still playing football. Clubs were still on. Izuku didn't care though. He only had one destination in mind.

The utility shed was at the corner of the field, right beside the gymnasium. Izuku made a mental note to be as loud this time, as he didn't want to attract the attention of the students playing volleyball next door.

Softly trying the door handle, Izuku wasn't surprised to find it locked. Sighing, not having wanted to make a scene, Izuku nevertheless powered up One For All, and kicked the door in.

The metal door slammed open, the lock mechanism shattering in two due to the force of the kick. Mineta squealed at the sound, and fell off his chair. Quivering, the grape haired boy looked at Izuku, who was calmly walking towards him.

"A-a-ah Izuku, I can explain-"

A single kick to Mineta's chest caused him to fall down to the ground in a coughing fit. The perverted boy was wheezing as Izuku calmly stepped over him. He analysed the contents of the desk. There was an expensive printer, capable of printing the glossy photographs. A camera with lots of lenses and attachments sat next to a laptop. The laptop was open to Photoshop, and Izuku was able to see countless photos of a brown haired girl, looking scared and defeated as she sat there with nothing but her undergarments on.

In silent rage, Izuku picked up the laptop, and squeezed it within his hands. He curled the laptop into a ball with ease, the components of the laptop fizzling and shattering as they were deformed beyond repair. With quick movements, Izuku slammed his fist down on the printer, and crushed the camera in a similar manner to the laptop.

Finally, he saw an envelope sitting on the desk. He picked it up gently, flicking the top open and glancing inside. It only took a second to confirm that the photographs inside were what he was after. He slide the envelope into his back pocket, before reaching down and picking Mineta up by his shirt collar.

"If I ever, find out you've down anything like this to Ochako ever again, I'll kill you," Izuku said. His green eyes were cold and unforgiving. Mineta was quivering in fear. He didn't realise until Izuku had dumped him back on the floor that he had peed himself, his pants obviously wet at the front.

As he left the utility shed, Izuku felt his shoulders drop as the stress left his body. He felt… different. He didn't feel like a hero, but neither did he feel like a villain.

What he did know was that he would do it all over again if he had to.

* * *

 **Sorry that took a while all. I had most of the chapter written for a while, but was starting a new job, amongst other things. I am currently on my lunch break, sitting in a maccas, using my phone hotspot to type the final words and upload this chapter. The big mac has left horrible grease marks on my laptop. Rest In Piece Apple the Second.**

 **I listened to some of the reviews, and have rushed my internal plot a bit, to put Uraraka out of her completely terrible situation ASAP. As I mentioned last chapter, I'm sorry if any of your favourite characters got turned... bad. It's necessary for the plot. Sorry not sorry.**

 **Please review or I'll eat so much maccas I'll either have a heart attack or go into debt.**

 **Never mind, my card got declined.**

 **Cheers,**

 **Council**


	4. Chapter 4

**My Hero Academia**  
 **Paying The Price**  
 **Chapter 4**

* * *

Momo was in a flux of emotions as she strode down the empty school hallways. It was nearing sunset, and the orange light was casting streaks of amber across the lockers.

One part of her was worried for her gravity controlling friend, Uraraka. Something was definitely wrong with the small girl, and Momo couldn't help but let her instincts kick in and protect her.

But then, Momo was also confused, because despite doing her best for Uraraka, the girl now seemed to despise her. Momo could still recall the look of venom in the girl's usually soft brown eyes. It made Momo shiver, her raven hair quivering with the action.

And now, Momo was angry, because Bakugo was being his usual rude, violent self. She didn't care how good of a hero he was, when he barged into the classroom, shouting and swearing at Izuku, and then turning on her, it made her blood boil.

"Stuck up, stubborn, waste of space idiot," Momo muttered to herself angrily. After she had helped rescue Bakugo from All for One, she thought that he would have calmed down a little, and perhaps not been quite so violent.

Unfortunately, it seems the opposite had occured. He was now more prone to exploding, both physically and socially, than ever before.

And yet, Momo was striding down the hallways, peering into every female bathroom that she could come across. It wasn't often that Bakugo, the idiot, asked for much (outside of asking for people to die), so when he had asked her to go check all of the female bathrooms in the entire school, she had reluctantly obeyed.

"Fuck that pisses me off though," Momo swore under her breath. Taking orders from anyone was bad enough. Her dad was enough of a control freak in the house as it was. Taking orders from the blond haired idiot though? That pissed her off big time.

She didn't even know what she was looking for. A porn mag? A prank gone wrong? Izuku's lunchbox? Each was as unlikely as the last. Well… except for Izuku's lunchbox. That could be a thing.

However, she was thrown out of her thoughts when she approached the next bathroom. Faint noises could be heard within. As Momo gently pried the door open, wincing as it squeaked softly, she realised that the noises were sniffles.

There was no comment on the squeaky door, so whoever was crying was too distracted to notice. Momo stepped in, and realised instantly who was crying. Strands of toilet paper were floating limply in the air, defying gravity. Momo poked one of the strands with her finger, and watched as it slowly spun away, the toilet roll unravelling even further.

Sighing sadly, Momo walked over to the locked stall which the sniffles were coming from, and tapped lightly. A soft, muffled squeal assured Momo that it was indeed Uraraka inside.

"Uraraka, it's me, Momo… Are you alright?" Momo already knew what the answer was, but she didn't know what else to ask right now.

"Oh… hi, Momo. I'm fine! I uh… just have a cold right now!" Uraraka said with a forced, cheerful voice. Momo noticed that Uraraka was very good at hiding her emotions with her cheerful voice. If she hadn't heard Uraraka's sniffles, she may have even believed her.

"Don't be silly Uraraka. Let me come in. I'm worried about you."

"No. Just, leave me alone, I don't want to see anyone."

Momo wouldn't give up though. She pushed her finger into the small emergency key hole in the toilet stall. Allowing the lipids in her body to condense, she push soft clay into the keyhole. Slowly withdrawing it, trying not to damage her creation, she eyed it intently. She memorised all of the teeth and jagged edges of the clay, and then, closing her eyes, brought her other hand to her stomach. Once again, condensing the lipids in her body into a metal key. She flicked it around in her fingers, examining it for any flaws.

Finally, happy with her results, she inserted the metal key into the lock, and flicked the door open smoothly.

"Oh, honey," Momo said sadly. Uraraka was a sight for sore eyes. She had puffy, red, tear stained eyes. Her cheeks were more red than usual, and her hair was a tangled mess.

"Come here," Momo said, opening her arms gently. Uraraka seemed to hesitate, but then leapt forwards, collapsing into the taller girl. Uraraka bawled, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. Momo just held her close, rubbing her hand soothingly over the small girls back.

Eventually, Uraraka calmed down, and the loud sobs were reduced to quite hiccups. More in control of herself, the brown haired girl pulled away from Momo, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands.

"Uraraka, can I ask what happened to the cell phone I made you?" Momo asked gently. She wasn't angry, merely curious. Uraraka didn't answer immediately, instead reddening as she looked at the ground, downcast.

"I broke it," Uraraka said meekly.

"Why?" Momo asked, confused.

"Because I can't trust you. Not with everything your family's done," Uraraka said, admitting the truth for the first time. Momo felt a hand squeeze around her insides, clutching at her heart with it's cold, clammy hands. Things clicked into place for her. Not completely, but she was beginning to understand that Uraraka's situation was more difficult than initially thought.

"What have they done?" Momo asked, her voice tighter than before, snapping at the small girl. Uraraka didn't respond, her lips clasped firmly together. Momo realised that she wasn't going to get anything more.

"Come on then, let's get your bag from the classroom," Momo said gently, trying not to let the frustration creep into her voice. She didn't want to scare Uraraka away. The small girl was acting like an alleyway cat, ready to bolt at the first sudden movement.

The two girls left the bathroom, and made their way back to the classroom. Uraraka seemed on edge, her eyes flitting back and forth, intent on finding something, or someone. She finally relaxed when they reached the classroom, and Uraraka bolted over to her desk to sweep her few belongings back into her bag.

Sighing, Momo touched her fingertips to her stomach, and same as yesterday, produced a pink cell phone. She slipped it into Uraraka's bag, not letting the girl say no.

"This is the last one I'm making for you. You don't have to talk to me on it, but at least keep it on yourself," Momo said. "For protection," Momo added when Uraraka didn't immediately respond.

"Thank you Momo," Uraraka said sincerely. She smiled at Momo in an attempt to mimic her normal enthusiasm, but Momo could tell that it was diminished. Nevertheless, Momo appreciated the attempt, and smiled back sweetly.

"Anytime Uraraka."

There was a peaceful quiet between them for a minute. Momo went and packed her supplies, having not had time when Bakugo had berated her earlier.

The thought of the blond boy made her blood boil again, but she let it simmer as she recalled that it was his advice, moronic as it was, that helped her find Uraraka.

Had Bakugo known Uraraka was in the bathroom? If so, how had he found out? Why did he even care? Why get Momo to look for Uraraka if he knew where she was all along?

Momo snorted to herself. The last one was obvious. Bakugo had the emotional capacity of well… a teaspoon. A teaspoon that explodes when dipped into any form of liquid, but a teaspoon nonetheless.

As she thought about explosions and loud noises, the classroom door slammed open loudly. Momo jumped up, startled, her fingers already building up lipids to construct a metal bo in defence. She relaxed though when she recognised the familiar green spiky hair of Izuku. What she didn't recognise was the tenseness in the boys shoulders, and the compressed, sealed away anger that seemed to emanate from him, ready to spring and lash out in a moment.

His green eyes widened in surprise as he noticed that he was not alone. In particular, Momo noticed that his gaze focused on Uraraka, not letting her out of his vision.

Uraraka on the other hand seemed to curl up on herself. Her face fell, her bangs covering her eyes, while she began fidgeting with her hands in her lap as she sat on her school chair.

Izuku seemed to be having a mental debate. Something won out in the end though, as he stepped towards Uraraka. His shoulders were just as tense, but instead of anger, he seemed to be controlled by a different emotion. Apprehension, perhaps.

He reached into his back pocket, and dropped an envelope on Uraraka's desk. Momo had absolutely no idea what was in it, but Uraraka seemed to. If she looked awkward before, now she looked shriveled up. Her body was twisted away from Izuku, her eyes were glaring at the envelope, and her thin arms were wrapped around her body, hugging herself.

"I don't care if you ever want to see me again or talk to me again, but this is everything that's left. You don't have to worry anymore." Izuku gave Uraraka a small nod, and content with himself, left the room quickly. Uraraka didn't say anything to try and stop him. She lashed out with a hand and grabbed the envelope, peeking into its contents.

"What's in there?" Momo asked, walking towards Uraraka. The brown haired girl panicked though, and stuffed the envelope in her bag and jumped out of her chair.

"Ahaha, it's nothing, it's nothing!" Uraraka said, rubbing the back of her head as she laughed happily.

Momo desperately wanted to know what was in the envelope, but she tried to contain herself. For the first time today, Uraraka was looking like her normal self.

"Thanks for everything today Momo, I'll see you tomorrow!" Uraraka called, dashing out of the room.

Momo stood there in the empty room, listening to the pattering of Uraraka's footsteps echo slowly away. She had never been more confused in her life.

Not wanting to stay at school any longer, she left, sliding the classroom door shut behind her.

Hopefully tomorrow would be more normal.

* * *

Uraraka ran down the school steps, her bag swaying back and forth as she took the steps in a rush. She wanted to catch up to Deku. She didn't know how, or why, but somehow, he had saved her from the worst mistake of her life.

Smiling to herself, she felt a warmth inside of her that she hadn't felt in… well, a long time. Her cheeks were rosy and blushed, and she was feeling more like her usual self.

She ran past the school gates, and saw Deku ahead. He wasn't running, but he was walking at quite a fast pace. She put a hand up, and was about to call out to him, when she paused.

Had he seen the photos?

Surely. He had been the one to get them for her.

Then he had seen her in nothing but her underwear.

"Oh god!" Uraraka, blushing heavily. Suddenly, the thought of seeing Deku was a little… embarrassing.

What did he think? What if he thought she was ugly. What if he stole a photo? What if he was disgusted with her?

Uraraka was fretting, grabbing the side of her skirt nervously. Did she call out to Deku, or did she run away?

Breathing out heavily, Uraraka gave up. She was too embarrassed. In a spur of a moment action though, she withdrew the new cell phone that Momo had made her. It was identical to the last one; pink and cute.

The camera clicked as Uraraka snapped a photo of Deku. It wasn't a great photo. Deku was kind of far away, and his back was turned to her, but it was a photo of him nevertheless. Giggling to herself, she set it to her phone wallpaper.

"Tomorrow, I'll talk to him," Uraraka promised, before turning away to head home, with a skip in her step. Every thirty meters she would flip open her cellphone and giggle and blush, finally happy with how things were going.

* * *

Uraraka was up the next morning before her alarm went off. She hopped out of bed with surprising coordination, and grabbed her phone, ready to disable the alarm before it rung it's awful tune. She smiled at Deku on her phone, content to stand there and look at him forever, until the alarm went off. Startled, she juggled the phone, trying not to drop it.

Cancelling the alarm, and hugging the pink phone to her chest in relief, she got ready for school. Her parents were once again noticeably absent, but Uraraka didn't let it bother her today. There was fresh bread today, so she grabbed a few slices for breakfast.

Her walk to school mirrored the warm weather. She hopped on every second step, letting her skirt sway back and forth to her movement.

"Hmm hmm hmhmm," she hummed to herself, lost in her own mind. She would get to class, drop her bag off, go to Deku's desk, and say hi to him. Yes, it would be a little awkward, but she wanted to get over that as soon as possible. Not even the realisation that she would have to see Mineta again made her mood drop.

She arrived at the 1-A classroom to the familiar noisy chatter. In an unusual fashion, Eraserhead was already there, sitting at his desk lazily, his head in his arms as he snoozed.

Uraraka dropped her bag off and glanced around the classroom, looking for a familiar fluff of green hair. Sighing, when she realised he hadn't arrived yet, she fell into her chair.

She waited impatiently, rotating between watching the classroom door and fiddling with her phone. When he eventually arrived, sliding the door open, she leapt to her feet. Before she could call out though, she was interrupted by Eraserhead.

"Midoriya, to the principal's office," Eraserhead called, having lifted his head from the desk. Seeing that Deku had heard him, Eraserhead let his head fall back onto his desk.

Looking at Deku properly, Uraraka noticed that he didn't look overly great. Perhaps he hadn't slept well, but he had dark rings under his eyes, and his movements were stiff and jolty. Hearing the news, his shoulders slumped, but he left the classroom without a word.

Uraraka groaned, grumbling into her elbow as she sunk onto her desk. Stupid Eraserhead. Now she'd have to build up the courage all over again.

Momo gave her a cheeky grin from the back of the classroom, but it was quickly replaced by a frown of concern as she looked at the classroom door. She must have been worried about Deku.

Uraraka wondered why Izuku was in trouble. Surely, it must be something from yesterday. Casting her eyes across the room, Uraraka noticed that Mineta was actually absent. In addition, once Eraserhead called for class to start, she noticed that Sero and Kaminari were also missing. The class felt oddly small with four of the boys currently missing.

Class was agonizingly slow. It didn't matter what material was being taught, Uraraka was completely distracted. Her eyes kept flickering to the class door, waiting for Deku to return, but he never did. Sero and Kaminari made a surprise appearance during one of the classroom breaks.

They didn't look great. They were wrapped up in various bandages, and as they entered the classroom they walked stiffly and slowly. Uraraka hoped that they were alright. Mineta still hadn't returned, which was the only saving grace of the day.

As the lunch bell rang, and Eraserhead dismissed them, the room exploded into a flurry of chatter and gossip. Rumours were flying around. Why had Deku not returned. Why were Sero and Kaminari injured, and why were they oddly quiet about the matter?

Of course, things became more intense once Bakugo joined the fray.

"Oi, you bastards!" He shouted, storming towards Kaminari and Sero, who looked absolutely terrified. Bakugo had crackles fluttering between his fingertips. "Which one of you ratted Deku out!"

Now the class was listening.

"It wasn't us," Sero said quietly and fearfully, creeping back into his chair. The last thing he wanted in his injured state was to get blasted by Bakugo.

"We swear!" Kaminari added. Bakugo seemed to fume at their response, but didn't press it.

"So it was the bobble haired freak eh?"

"No… it wasn't him either, we don't know who told the principal…"

Bakugo swore at them further, and unleashed a few explosions, but they were more for atmospheric effect than anything else, and the two boys walked away unscathed. Bakugo seemed even angrier than before though, as he kicked Deku's desk down as he stormed past in a rage.

The class broke into a new wave of whispering as people began drifting out for lunch. Uraraka stayed in her seat, processing everything she had heard.

For some reason, Kaminari and Sero were in on something with Mineta, and Uraraka only had ot guess once what it was. Suddenly, she was not feeling very sorry for their injuries after all.

The injuries also begun to make sense, what with Deku being sent to the principal's office. Her green haired hero had obviously gone overboard yesterday.

She would have to thank him for that.

But he never returned to class, and as Eraserhead silenced the class for the rest of the day, Uraraka went back to her thoughts.

If Bakugo's interrogation was to be believed, than it was none of the boys that dobbed Deku into the school. If it wasn't them though, it left only one remaining person who knew about the fights.

Uraraka glanced behind her at the raven haired quirk user. Momo was staring intently at the blackboard, diligently writing down notes as Uraraka should have been doing. Uraraka didn't want to distrust Momo. The girl was an oddity, what with her father destroying Uraraka's life, and yet she was unnecessarily kind to Uraraka yesterday despite that.

No one else knew about the fights though. Uraraka didn't want to accuse Momo, but there was no one else-

But there could have been! Uraraka quickly realised who was the mastermind behind these events. Someone who could've been there the whole time, and they never would have known. Someone Uraraka already didn't trust.

"Toru," She growled softly, grinding her teeth together in anger. If she got her hands on the invisible girl, she was going to regret every hurting Deku's reputation.

* * *

The class cheered as the school bell rang. Everyone was eager to return home. It was a Thursday afternoon and there was only one more day of school. Uraraka was disappointed that she hadn't seen Deku all day. Hopefully he'd be at school tomorrow.

She desperately hoped he hadn't been suspended, or even worse, expelled. The thought made her shiver, but she brushed it aside, and tried smiling instead. Things were better now. It was time to act like it.

As she packed her bags, Momo approached her. Uraraka was still in two minds about the raven haired girl, but she had to make up her mind. Clutching the pink cell phone in her hand, hidden in her pocket, she decided that, for now, she'd give Momo a chance.

"Hey Uraraka. Feeling better today?" Momo asked, resting an elbow on Uraraka's desk.

"Hehe, sure am!" Uraraka replied in an upbeat tone. Momo smiled in relief.

"That's good…" Momo glanced around the classroom, noticing that it was just the two of them left. The class had dispersed very quickly indeed. Momo leaned in closer, lowering her voice as she spoke.

"Listen, about yesterday. I wanted to talk to you about it. I think I can-"

"I'm sorry Momo," Uraraka said suddenly, interrupting the taller girl, "but I don't feel comfortable talking to you. I just can't trust you."

Uraraka tried to make her voice as harsh as possible (which was actually quite hard), while she resisted the urge to look around the classroom. It wouldn't matter. If Toru was here, listening on in the conversation, Uraraka would never know.

She didn't want to push Momo away, but just for now, she had to.

"Ok, but, I was just wondering if-"

"I have to go Momo. Please leave me alone."

Uraraka walked quickly out of the classroom, trying not to look behind her. SHe could picture Momo's hurt face in her mind. The tall girl was growing on Uraraka. Uraraka really thought that she was on her side. However, if that was the case, there was even more reason to be careful with the threat of Toru.

Uraraka walked home quickly. Ever since realising that she couldn't trust Toru, she felt that nowhere was safe. Was Toru following her home? Was the invisible girl spying on Deku? Was he alright?

Momo resisted the urge to text Deku on her phone. She had to wait until she was.

She unlocked her front door, and slipped through, slamming it shut behind her instantly. There should have been no way for Toru to slip in.

To make sure, Uraraka did the same thing with her bedroom door, flicking the lock after it slammed shut. Finally, she went to her bed and pulled off the bed sheet. Using her quirk to make the sheet weightless, she begun spinning it around the room. Uraraka made sure it brushed against all of the walls and corners.

Only when she was certain that Toru wasn't hiding somewhere and stuck in the sheet did Uraraka relax. She closed the curtains to her window, collapsed in her bed, and pulled out her phone.

She wanted to text Deku, to see if he was alright, but she knew she quickly had to make amends with Momo. She had just made a new friend. She didn't want to lose that right away.

 _Dear Momo. I am sorry for my behaviour after class. I was worried we were being spied on. Texting at home is much safer._

Momo hit the send button, and waited in anticipation for Momo's message. It was a while before Momo did respond, and Uraraka had begun to grow nervous.

 _Dear Uraraka. I don't understand. Who would possible be spying on us._

Uraraka grimaced. Momo didn't really know about anything that had happened recently. She knew nothing about Mineta and Toru's activities. Uraraka was worried. Would Momo even believe her? What if Momo chose Toru over her?

Uraraka shook her head roughly. She couldn't let her own thoughts win before the fight even started. She had decided to trust Momo, and she would follow it through.

 _Momo, I am worried that Toru has been spying on me recently. Yesterday, she was involved in an incident with me and Mineta. I don't feel safe around her._

 _Is that why Mineta was absent, and Izuku was called to the principals?_

 _I think so… I'm not 100% sure. I know that Deku did nothing wrong though! He's innocent!_

There was a pause before Momo replied. Uraraka knew that the girl was very logical, and that she was probably analysing the whole situation. Uraraka just hoped her story would come out on top.

 _I am having difficulty believing that students in our own class would be targeting you Uraraka._

Uraraka's heart fell. This was what she had been worried about. The class had gone through so much together in the first semester. It would obviously be hard for Momo to begin doubting them. The phone dinged again.

 _However, I would be blind not to notice that the classroom has been… different, this semester._

 _I'm not asking you to pick a side Momo. Just… be careful. I don't want to see you get hurt._

 _Thank you Uraraka. I will take your words to heart._

Uraraka breathed out a large sigh of relief. She felt a hundred times lighter. Another phone notification brought her back into the conversation.

 _If I could ask, who else are you concerned that I should worry about?_

 _Sero and Kaminari, as well as Toru and Mineta._

 _Ah. I see. Sero and Kaminari walked into class injured today. Your story certainly seems plausible Uraraka. You have given me a lot to think about. I shall contact you again tomorrow, once I have decided._

 _Thank you Momo. That's all I ask for._

 _Have a good night Uraraka._

 _You too Momo!_

With the conversation over, Uraraka moved to the next order of business; Deku. With a silly smile on her face as she looked at her wallpaper, she flipped to her contacts. Her heart fell when she realised that she didn't have Deku as a contact.

"Oh no…" She groaned, collapsing on her bed in a slump. "Stupid Deku," she grumbled, knowing it wasn't really his fault at all. "He better be at school tomorrow."

* * *

Uraraka woke up that night to loud noises coming from downstairs. It seemed to be a combination of hands slamming onto wooden tables, and loud raised voices echoing upstairs.

A bit confused and concerned, Uraraka slipped out of bed, and pulled a thin nightgown over herself. She was wearing an oversized blue shirt with a cat on it and simple pink shorts, and the nightgown helped keep the night chills away.

She clawed the door open slowly and crept to the edge of the stairs, trying to eavesdrop over the railing.

"You told us this would be the end of it!" Uraraka's father seemed angry, but at the same time, defeated.

"Circumstances have changed," an unknown voice said. It was unmistakable female. She was smoothly spoken, with the disposition of a salesperson.

"How? We went through with our side of the bargain. What has changed?" Uraraka's mother seemed far more distressed than her father. Uraraka began creeping closer, wanting to know what this bargain was.

"There was outside interference." A different voice was speaking now. This voice was male. He lacked the smoothness that his lady counterpart spoke with, and seemed to be grunting at the end of his sentences. "The… assets, were forcibly removed from our agents."

"That's your damn fault then. Don't blame this on us!" Uraraka's father slammed his fist into the table. A scattering of chairs and footsteps suddenly erupted. Uraraka crept down the stairs and peeked through a gap in the bannister.

The lady, although small in stature, and a steel fist wrapped around Uraraka's father's throat. His toes were twitching, trying to touch the floor, but the lady held him up easily.

"Don't raise my voice at me. The higher ups are very disappointed in everyone's performance. Retributions must be paid."

"I'm.. sorry. Please… let me... go."

The lady let go of him, and he slumped to the ground weakly. The steel fist the lady had began dissolving away, leaving behind just normal skin.

"It's simple," the man said. Unlike the lady, Uraraka couldn't see any visible quirk on him. "Tonight, we take the photographs again, and things go back to normal. Just as they would have before the… outside interference."

"...No more debt?" Uraraka's father said weakly.

"Correct."

Uraraka watched as her parents glanced at each other, trying to have a silent conversation. THey seemed to come to a decision, because her mother nodded, and her father faced the two suited individuals.

"Fine. We agree. It's not like it really changes anything from the original deal," Uraraka's father said. She was suddenly feeling quite sick in her stomach, and not because she had been overusing her quirk. The talk of photographs, and outside interference… and her parent's involvement. Surely Uraraka wasa overthinking things. Her parents loved her. They wouldn't sell her out like this. Uraraka desperately listened as her mother spoke up.

"Uraraka is upstairs, I'll go wake her."

Uraraka felt a chill settle through her body, freezing her heart.

"No need. We'll go ourselves," the lady spoke, and the sound of chairs being drawn backwards, scraping on the ground rung through the living room.

Jolted into action, Uraraka clasped a hand over her mouth so that she wouldn't make any noises and alert the strangers. She scrambled up the stairs, and slowly closed her bedroom door, flicking the lock on the way. She glanced around her room, looking for an escape. The only option was the window.

She reached for the window, pulling at the small handle, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked, and the key to open it was downstairs.

She felt her heart rate increasing, and the signs of hyperventilating occuring. Should she smash the window? The sound would definitely alert the strangers, but it would mean she could escape.

Could she outrun them? She looked around her room for something heavy and hard. There was nothing though, especially after the debt collectors had raided her room, taking anything of value.

The door handle rattled, and soft, murmuring voices could be heard on the other side. Uraraka felt a bit of relief. The door was locked, they would have to smash it to get inside.

"Let me, the mother gave me the key," the lady said. Uraraka once again felt sick as she stared at the door knob in disbelief. She heard the lock flick open. Uraraka felt her heart break. How could her parent's do this to her.

She quickly dashed to the corner of her room, on the blind corner of the door. She was hugging her wooden wardrobe, which was practically empty with clothes. If it came to this, Uraraka wasn't going to go down easy. Deku had saved her from the first round of photographs. She was never going to let that happen to her now. She wished she had thought to call Momo now on the phone. It was too late though, as the door swung open, and a beam of light illuminated her bare room.

"Tch, the girl's not in bed. She must have heard us," the man said.

"The windows closed. She didn't pass by us. She's in the room. Find her."

The lady closed the door, and as she turned around, she felt the full impact of a wooden wardrobe smash into her face. Uraraka was holding the large wardrobe in both hands, swinging it as easily as a baseball bat. The lack of gravity didn't take away from the mass of the object at all, and as it smashed into the lady's face, her nose splintered, and blood spurted out from her nose and cheekbone.

She collapsed to the ground, clutching her face in agony. Unfortunately for Uraraka, she didn't seem to be knocked out.

Realising they were under attack, the other man leapt forwards, showing surprising agility for being in a suit. He reached for Uraraka, and she dashed out of the way. Remembering her martial arts training, she lashed out with a foot, trying to hit his ankle and trip him.

She grimaced as her bare foot landed against his thick calf. He didn't even stumble. Gulping, Uraraka was in no place to dodge as he reached down, and pressed his palm against her cheek.

Instantly, Uraraka felt her vision disappear and replaced by the black and gray static that her television sometimes displayed. She cried in shock, but realised she couldn't hear either. There was only a dull sound of static rumbling in her ears. She couldn't hear, and she couldn't see. She understood why they may have sent this man and his quirk to take "photographs".

She felt her blood flare in anger though. She wasn't going down like this. She could still feel, and she knew the man's hand was pressed on her cheek. Reaching up blindly with her hands and wrapping them around his wrist. Concentrating on the small pads on her fingertips, she unleashed her quirk, making the large man weightless. She then fell backwards on purpose, and with her feet, kicked upwards, whilst yanking the man's wrist away with her hands.

The man floated up towards the ceiling from the momentum of the kick. As soon as his hand left her face, she felt her vision and hearing return. She turned to run down the stairs, eager to make as much distance between herself and the two suited attackers.

The wind was squeezed out of her lungs however, as a metal fist slammed into her stomach. Coughing and spluttering, Uraraka fell to the ground. She felt herself lose control of her quirk, and the man fell to the ground from the ceiling. He let out a loud grunt and a swore in pain, but seemed relatively unharmed.

"This is it," Uraraka thought to herself. She didn't have anymore fight left in her. The advantage of surprise was gone. She had failed. She felt a little bit of vindictive pride in herself as she looked at the shattered nose and cheekbone of the lady. She deserved it, and more.

It was a shame really, Uraraka thought to herself. All she had really wanted to do was thank Deku. Now… well, she might not ever get the chance to do that.

And as she closed her eyes, trembling in her thin nightgown, and oversized shirt with a small cat on it, she heard the two words she never thought she'd hear.

"Detroit… **SMASH**!"

* * *

 **Anyone know what pop vinyls are? Weird, creepy looking bobbleheads with big black eyes that stare into your soul? Yeah, those thing? My "My Hero Academia" pops arrived, and they're super cute. I was contemplating changing the display picture of the story to them. Thoughts?!**

 **Anyway. Relatively quick update (patting my own back in congratulations). I'm hoping to keep a pretty steady pace going, so hopefully you'll hear from me again soon.**

 **Thanks for all the support fellow weebs!**

 **Cheers,**

 **Council.**


	5. Chapter 5

**My Hero Academia**

 **Paying the Price: Chapter 5**

 **Feeling Fuzzy**

* * *

"Detroit… SMASH!"

When Deku burst through Uraraka's window, he didn't just destroy the wall. A whole corner of Uraraka's apartment seemed to explode, rubble collapsing all around them.

Deku looked furious. His green eyes were narrowed, sparks of green energy sizzling across the surface. He wasn't dressed in his hero costume, but rather in casual dark jeans and a gray logo shirt. His green hair was spiky as usual, but matted with concrete dust.

Uraraka had never been more attracted to him than in that moment.

He landed on the ground, his feet skidding out. Before the lady in the suit with the metal arm could react, Deku dashed forwards, closing the distance between them with ease.

"Full Cowling…" Deku growled, his right arm flickering with pure energy. He swung his fist around, hooking the lady in her ribs. Even when she hardened her skin in metal, she still screamed in pain as her ribs cracked. She let go of Uraraka, who fell to the ground, but quickly scampered back to her feet.

"You little prick," the lady swore, standing up quickly. The metal was quickly coating her whole body. She dashed forwards, much faster than someone made of metal should be able to, and attempted a jab to Deku's exposed side.

He hopped backwards, light on his feet, and swung his foot out, successfully catching her ankle. Uraraka winced, as the metal ankle dented inwards. The suited lady collapsed to the ground, holding her ankle in pain.

Deku leant forwards, ready to unleash a kick at her head to knock her out, but he suddenly froze.

The other man in the suit was standing behind him, both of his palms resting on Deku's exposed upper shoulders. Deku seemed in a daze, his eyes unfocused. Uraraka called out to him, but he didn't respond. Uraraka recalled the static like ability the suited man used. It had removed both her vision and hearing, and Deku was now experiencing the same.

Rage filled her body and Uraraka found newfound energy. She leapt to the side of the wall which had fallen down. A large concrete pillar lay on the ground, destroyed by Deku's explosive entrance. Touching the pillar with her palms, she easily lifted it off the ground. Carefully so as not to hit Deku, she swung the pillar around, clipping the suited man on the back of the head.

He hit the ground hard. For a moment, Uraraka was worried she may have killed him, but she found that she really didn't have any empathy left for the man.

Deku had been tossed to the ground from the solid concrete blow. He hadn't been hit directly and he picked himself back up, dusting the small rocky fragments off his clothes.

"Deku!" Uraraka finally called, relief and happiness flooding her voice. She ran towards him, ready to leap towards him, hugging him until he suffocated, but he quickly held up a hand. Turning away from her, he quickly made his way to the suited lady. She was crawling to Uraraka's bedroom door, trying to escape.

Deku planted a foot harshly in her side. She yelped in pain and tried to struggle away. It was no use though.

"Who sent you?" Deku growled, his voice low and threatening. The lady laughed in response.

"As if I'd tell you anything-!" She was interrupted with a scream as Deku slammed his boot into her solar plexus. Uraraka saw the ground beneath the lady give way and crack from the force.

"Who sent you?" Deku asked again, grinding his foot into her stomach.

"Yaoyoroza," she gasped. Deku paused as he processed the information.

"Related to Momo Yaoyoroza?" he asked.

"I- I don't know!" Deku seemed like he was going to pursue it, but he glanced over at Uraraka. She nodded to him, confirming what he was thinking.

"Where did Yaoyoroza find you guys from anyway?" Deku asked, pointing at the still unconscious man at the side of the room. The lady grinned viciously at Deku, despite her situation.

"You have no idea what you've put your nose into," she sneered. "When the League of Villains hears about you, you're going to be dead, boy."

"They can try," Deku replied, his voice even. Then without a moment of hesitation, Deku landed his boot on her skull, knocking her out with a resounding thunk.

"This is bad," Deku finally said, glancing over at Uraraka. "If Yaoyoroza is involved, then we don't want to be here when the police arrive."

Uraraka realised that she could just now hear the distant sound of police sirens. The noise and destruction from the fight must have alerted the neighbours.

"Listen, Uraraka, I'm glad you're alright, but I've got to go. They can't find me here. You'll be safe with your parents. I'll get in touch with you soon."

"No, wait!" Uraraka shouted, as Deku turned to leave. He paused, turning around, the moonlight illuminating his face. Uraraka froze, suddenly embarrassed by what she wanted to ask. But she had to ask. She couldn't stay here. Not with her… parents.

"Can… I come with you?" She tried to keep eye contact with Deku, but his green, piercing eyes made her blush, and she lowered her face, letting her chocolate bangs cover her eyes.

"You'll be more safe here."

"No. I won't."

Deku raised his eyebrows at her, but whatever he was going to ask, was interrupted by Uraraka's parents walking through the open door. They blanched, looking at the destruction and the two unconscious adults.

"You! What have you done?" Uraraka's father shouted, blustering and pointing at Deku.

"Saving your daughters life, sir," Deku replied, confused.

"You-, well, I uh," her father stammered, realising that his daughter was in the room.

"Oh, Uraraka dear, you're alright." Her mother ran forwards, arms outstretched to hug Uraraka.

Uraraka stepped backwards, behind Deku, using him as a shield between herself and her parents.

"Stay away from me," she said softly. She reached up, her fingertips tugging on Deku's shirt, begging him to stay.

"Honey, it's ok, the bad adults are gone. You're safe now." Uraraka's mother was smiling, but for the first time in her life, Uraraka didn't trust her. The smile seemed fake. Uraraka could see the caution in her mother's eyes. She was wary, ready to leap backwards to safety if Uraraka lashed out.

"I heard you two," Uraraka whispered, but loud enough that everyone could hear. "Downstairs. With the others. I heard everything."

Her parents paled, realising what Uraraka was implying.

"Honey, you were misunderstanding. We were trying to protect you-"

"You were trying to protect yourselves!" Uraraka screamed at them, silencing them immediately.

"I hate you. I hate you both. I never want to see you again," Uraraka said, her voice softer, but still sharp and piercing. She tugged on Deku's sleeve, getting him to look at her with his fierce green eyes. They softened as he looked down at her. His eyes were filled with concern and compassion, emotions that were absent in her parent's eyes.

"Deku, please. Let's go."

He nodded stiffly. He turned to the parents, who seemed frozen in the spot. The police sirens were blaringly loud now, and Uraraka realised that they cars were right outside the house. Realising that Deku would need help escaping, she rested her palms on his chest, letting her quirk flow into him.

She heard his chest rumble in approval as he realised her plan. He wrapped his arms under her shoulders, pulling her close towards him. He held her with a death grip, not letting her go, but she found that it felt surprisingly gentle and secure.

Deku crouched down, energy pouring into his legs. He launched himself upwards, holding Uraraka close to him. The low gravity helped to launch him further than he ever could have alone. He sailed far over the neighbouring apartments, soaring through the sky. Uraraka held on for dear life, feeling the harsh wind whip through her hair and her thin nightclothes. She peeked her eyes open, and was astounded at the view as she looked down.

The city was sprawling beneath them. Cars looked like ants, trailing around and following the streetlights like pacman. It was a cloudy night, but the moon was half illuminated as it lazily drifted between the shadowy gaps. She knew that she was dangerously high, but she couldn't help but let out a giggle. She felt pleased when she heard Deku also chuckle in response.

"Alright Uraraka, I think we're far enough away," he shouted, barely making himself heard over the wind. Keeping her palms pressed against his chest, she slowly begun draining her quirk from him. As they became heavier, they began to sink down towards the ground. Before they touched down, she maxed out her quirk, letting them come to a complete stop in mid-air before releasing. Deku grunted as they dropped a meter, but he held onto her nevertheless. Once her bare feet touched the ground, Uraraka realised that they were on a beach. Smooth sand was squeezed between her toes. The soft sound of rolling waves was therapeutic, relaxing Uraraka.

"This is beautiful," she exclaimed softly. Uraraka chuckled, still holding her with one arm.

"This is a beach near my home," Deku explained. "I spent a lot of time here with All Might before he… well." He trailed off, and Uraraka squeezed his hand softly.

"It's tough, isn't it," she said sadly. She recalled all of the changes that had occurred since All Might had passed away. Her life had been thrown upside down. Deku worshiped All Might as well. She could barely imagine how hurt he was.

"I wish he was still here, y'know," Deku stated, looking longingly up at the stars. "There's so much still I don't know. So much I wanted him to show me, and to explain to me." He turned his eyes down towards the ground, softly kicking a nearby mound of sand. "I just feel a bit lost."

"Well, if you ever feel lost, just know that I'll always be here for you!" Uraraka said, trying to inject some cheer into her voice. She didn't like it when Deku was sad. The green eyed boy glanced over at her, making eye contact, before blushing and glancing away.

"Heh, yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks Uraraka."

Uraraka was beginning to notice that Deku's arm, wrapped around her waist, was feeling like fire right now. She didn't want to make a scene, as Deku seemed at peace, but it was making it hard to concentrate. They were standing together, alone, on the moonlit beach. There was so much to think about. Was he holding her on purpose? Had he forgotten his arm was there? Should she even be thinking about this with what had just happened?

Whether it was the recollection of the night's events, or the brisk wind that rushed through her thin nightclothes, she shivered, breaking the magic between them. Deku suddenly whipped his arm away from her, bringing it up to scratch the back of his head.

"Ah, you must be cold!" Deku exclaimed, sounding more like his normal self. "Let me get you home! Mum will have some stuff you can wear, I'm sure."

They walked back together, no longer touching each other, but still close to one another. There was a slight awkwardness in the air, but the silence between them was comforting at the same time.

As they neared Deku's apartment though, Uraraka found herself growing more and more nervous. She was about to meet Deku's mum, in the middle of the night, in nothing but her sleepwear. She was suddenly very self-conscious of the lack of a bra on under her shirt.

She was beginning to doubt herself. Should she really be going with Deku? The logical part of her brain was saying no, that this was a bad idea, and to at least wait until morning. A new part of her though, which she had never felt before, was driving heat through her body, convincing herself that this wasn't a bad idea.

She was still conflicted when Deku stopped suddenly. She felt his arm reach forward and brush her stomach, stopping her from walking on autopilot.

"Well, this is it," Deku stated. There was a simple wooden staircase to the second floor of the apartment building. Deku reached into his pocket, withdrew his house keys, and unlocked the door.

"Mum, I'm home!" Deku called. Rushed footsteps could be heard immediately.

"Izuku! You're finally home!" Deku's mum ran around the corner into full view. Similar to Uraraka, she was also in a nightgown, but was wearing more modest long pants and a long sleeved shirt underneath. Uraraka grabbed the hem of her long shirt and pulled it down, trying to cover up a bit more or her legs.

Uraraka was expecting Deku's mum to pause, and notice her, but she rushed right past her, grabbing Deku in a large hug.

"I was so worried about you, dear," she cried, and Uraraka did indeed notice that she was crying.

"Mum, gerroff me, I'm fine," Deku complained, trying to break free, "You're embarrassing me in front of Uraraka."

It was only then that the green haired mother noticed that there was someone else in the house. She quickly let go of Deku and turned to face her.

"Oh hello dear, I'm sorry I didn't notice you before. I'm Inko, Izuku's mother," Inko bowed slightly, and waved an arm around. "Welcome to our household. Please, make yourself welcome."

"Umm, thank you, Inko. I'm Ochaco Uraraka. Thank you for having me." Uraraka bowed in return. Deku smiled at her quickly, before turning to his mum.

"Hey mum, do you have any clothes that Uraraka can borrow? We were in a bit of a rush…" Deku trailed off as he watched his mum pale. Uraraka suddenly realised that it looked like things could be… misunderstood.

Inko seemed to be in shock. Her mouth was open like a goldfish, and she was suddenly scrutinising Uraraka up and down. Uraraka tugged the bottom of her shirt down again.

'Mum?" Deku asked. He also seemed a bit embarrassed, but had things more under control than his mother.

"Wha- Right! Yes, of course. Deku, get some food for Ochaco. I'll be down with some clothes in a moment."

Inko turned around and disappeared in a flash, faster than Uraraka could have imagined. Sighing, Deku turned to Uraraka and led her into the living room. She dropped onto a couch, and seeing a spare blanket lying to the side, she grabbed it and wrapped it around herself.

Deku returned from the kitchen with some snacks and two juice boxes. She gratefully accepted the juice, stabbing the top with a straw. From upstairs, they could hear Inko alternating between sobbing and humming.

"I'm so happy!... But I'm so sad… But I'm so happy!"

"Erm… is your mum going to be alright?" Uraraka asked cautiously. Deku chuckled, popping the top of his own juice box.

"Yeah. She'll get over it. She just get's a bit lost in her emotions sometimes." Deku was smiling as he spoke. Uraraka realised that his father didn't seem to be anywhere in the picture. The mother and son were obviously close together.

Inko appeared into the living room, hauling a suitcase behind her. She dropped it to the ground and unzipped it in a rush.

"You seem about the same height as me Ochaco," Inko said, rummaging through the clothes in the suitcase. "These are a bit old, but haven't been worn in years! I used to wear some of these back before Izuku was born… here, you can wear this tonight." Inko passed a fluffy wool jumper over towards Uraraka, who gratefully accepted it.

"I'll put the suitcase in the spare room, and you can choose what you want to wear tomorrow… oh, but I don't have a school uniform for you…"

"Ah, it's alright, this is plenty already. Thank you so much Inko!" Uraraka smiled cheerfully, already excited at the prospect of digging through the clothes. Inko looked like she had a great fashion sense when she was younger.

"Now, I don't know what you two were doing out so late," Inko said, crossing her arms over body. "And you, Izuku. You know you're meant to call me if you're going to be out late!"

"Sorry mum," Deku said, scratching the back of his head.

"Ochaco sweetie, you haven't done anything wrong though," Inko said, her voice more gentle as she spoke to her. "Feel free to stay here as long as you like. Goodness knows the spare bedroom could use someone. It's been years since Izuku's had a friend over-"

"Mum," Deku complained, trying to silence her.

"Well, you know. Your last friend was Bakugo, and he hasn't stayed over since preschool!"

"Mum!" Deku shouted.

"Well, maybe if you had more friends, you wouldn't have this problem." Deku groaned, letting his head fall into his arms. He lifted his head when he heard soft female giggling. Uraraka was laughing at him softly, her hand over her mouth to hide the giggles.

"Thank you Inko," Uraraka said when she stopped laughing. She still had a large smile on her face. "I'll try not to get in your way as I stay here."

"Nonsense sweetie. Bother me as much as you want. Izuku, why don't you show her to her room?"

"Alright mum," Deku said, quickly standing up. "Come on Uraraka, let's go, before mum says anything else."

Giggling again, Uraraka took his outstretched hand, letting him pull her up and lead her up the stairs. The fluffy jumper Inko had given her was keeping her nice and warm, but holding Deku's hand made her even warmer.

She could tell which room was Deku's. Even with the door only partly ajar, she could spot all of his All Might models and posters. It was kind of cute, she thought to herself.

The spare room was a lot blander, not that she was complaining. It had a single bed, a wardrobe, a desk and chair and not much else. Still, it was warm, and near Deku.

"Right, well, this is it," Deku said awkwardly. "I know it's not much, but it's yours for as long as you want."

"It's perfect!" Uraraka said, skipping into the room, and jumping on the bed. The quilt flattened out with a soft poof as her butt landed on it. It was a comfortable bed.

"I'm just in the next room if you need me for anything," Deku continued. "I'll bring the suitcase upstairs for you though. Give me a moment."

He slipped out of the room, and Uraraka realised that for the first time tonight she was on her own. It was a lovely room, and Inko was wonderful, and she loved being near Deku, but it didn't change what had happened tonight. Her parents… she could barely even call them that anymore. She hated them. She couldn't understand how they could betray her like that.

The emotions she had been repressing all night came to the surface. She felt a few tears begin to drip from her eyes. What was she going to do? She didn't know who she could trust anymore.

She remembered the two adults, and the feeling of static absorbing her sight and sound. Uraraka wrapped her thin arms around her chest, hugging herself tight. She was scared, and tired, and alone.

"Here you go! I also grabbed a spare toothbrush for-" Deku paused as he swung the door open. He saw her red puffy eyes, and tear stained cheeks. He stood still for a moment, hesitating on what to do, before he shut the door behind him softly, set the suitcase and toothbrush down, and made his way over to the bed.

He sat beside her, and his weight pushed the mattress down, causing her to slide onto his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, resting his hand on her shoulder and pulling her to him. She hugged him back, burying her face in his shoulder, and let the tears fall.

He didn't say anything. There was nothing he could say. She knew that. Nothing could fix this, and nothing could make her feel better. All she could do was cry, and he let her do that. She stained his shirt with her tears and snot. It was pretty gross, but he didn't pull away. He just reached around with his other arm and hugged her tighter. His hand rubbed slow, soothing circles on her back.

She didn't stop crying either. She thought she would at times, but then a flashback would occur, and she'd say the faces of her disappointed parents, and the waterworks would start again.

She didn't know when she stopped crying. All she knew was that Deku never left her.

* * *

When Izuku woke up, he found himself in a compromising situation. He was lying on his back, the sheets from the night before a tangled mess at his feet. More importantly though, was the tangled mess of limbs wrapped around his body. Trying to wake the sleeping girl, Izuku glanced to the side. Uraraka was still wearing the fluffy jumper from the night before, but it had rode up slightly in the night. Her bare legs were wrapped around his waist. Izuku tried not to follow her legs up to her thighs, but he found it was a losing battle.

He dragged his eyes up towards her face. She was sleeping with her head on his chest, her mouth half open, breathing heavily. Her chocolate hair was a knotted mess, wrapping around her petite features.

Izuku tried to slowly pull himself away, but Uraraka's arms wrapped around him, pulling him back towards him.

"Don't go rabbit-kun… you only just arrived," Uraraka murmured. Izuku raised his eyebrows, wondering what she was dreaming about. When she didn't wake though, he poked her gently in the side with his finger. Her brown eyes fluttered open, dazed and unfocused. She scanned the unfamiliar, before settling on staring at Izuku, who was just centimetres away.

Suddenly, she turned beet red.

"Ah! Deku! Wh-wh-what happened," Uraraka panicked, unwrapping her limbs from Deku, and sliding off the bed.

"Good morning, Uraraka," Izuku replied. "Sorry to wake you, but you have to get ready for school."

"School?" Uraraka replied with confusion in her voice. She was still waking up. Izuku found it incredibly cute watching her trying to concentrate.

"Ah, that's right, last night," Uraraka said. "Sorry about falling asleep on you!"

"It's fine, it's fine," Izuku replied. He hadn't minded after all. Not that he was going to admit that. "How are you feeling?"

Her eyebrows scrunched up, and she brought a finger to het temple as she thought.

"Good!" She finally replied, smiling. Izuku smiled in relief back at her. She seemed a lot more in control after last night.

"Come on downstairs then. Mum will have some food ready, I'm sure."

Izuku was correct. Inko had gone out of her way to cook up a feast. There was toast, eggs, bacon, fried rice and juice all laid out for them.

"Good morning you two. Did you sleep well last night?"

Both Izuku and Uraraka blushed, murmuring a vague response as they sat down and quickly dug into their food. Inko just chuckled at them.

"Now, I know you're suspended from school today Izuku, but you should at least walk Ochaco in," Inko said, sitting down at the table herself. She was dressed in work clothes, and would be leaving the house soon.

"Of course mum. If that's ok with you, Uraraka, of course," Izuku added quickly. She smiled and nodded in response.

"Ah, but I don't have a uniform," Uraraka said, slightly downcast.

"Hmm… I think we can figure something out," Izuku said, a thoughtful smile on his face.

"Really?" Uraraka replied sceptically.

"Really really."

Uraraka shrugged, deciding to trust him. Having finished breakfast, Inko said farewell to them. They made their way upstairs, each heading to their respective rooms to get dressed. They met each other in the hallway.

Izuku was dressed similarly to yesterday. He had denim jeans on, a white logo shirt and a simple hoodie over the top.

Uraraka had spent a bit more time than Izuku, enjoying going through the range of clothes in the suitcase. Eventually she settled on a pair of white jeans that fit her snugly, and a pink shirt on top. It was still winter though, so she grabbed a coat to throw over her attire.

"Nice," Izuku said, glancing at her. She grinned at him, apparently happy at the praise.

"I don't get to see you in normal clothes often. It looks good on you too," Uraraka replied. Izuku found himself avoiding her chocolate eyes as he glanced away, rubbing the back of his head.

"Let's get going then!"

Izuku made sure to lock the house before the couple made their way to school. They walked slowly. They weren't in any rush. Eventually the conversation drifted towards Izuku's recent suspension.

"So, why were you suspended, Deku?"

"Ah, well… y'know…" Izuku trailed off. He felt a bit awkward admitting to his violent acts against Mineta, Sero and Kaminari. He knew he would do it again in a heartbeat, but Uraraka was such a kind, sweet hearted girl. She probably wouldn't like him as much if she knew.

"It's not 'Y'know'", Uraraka replied grumpily. "You got suspended, and all you did was look out for me. I'm glad you beat the crap out of them, Deku."

"Y-you are?"

"Yeah, of course. Actually, I've been meaning to say this for a while," Uraraka admitted. She stopped walking, turned to face Izuku and grabbed his hands in hers.

"Thank you for stopping Mineta, and stopping my photos from circulating. I'll be forever in your debt Deku. If there's anything you ever need from me, I'll do it for you. You just let me know, okay?"

Izuku turned red as his mind instantly thought about things that he might need from Uraraka. Images of this morning were clear in his mind. He tried to pull his hands away from her, but she held on tight, pulling him back towards her.

"Thank you so much Deku!" Uraraka beamed at him, her cheeks rosy and lit up as her smile spread across her face.

"You don't have to say thank you," Izuku replied, "and you don't owe me anything."

"Hehe, I knew you'd say that, but still-"

"I didn't want to interrupt, but I've been standing here for some time now."

Uraraka squealed, leaping backwards. Momo was standing at the corner of the footpath, a sly smile on her face. Izuku chuckled, but his own face was red as well.

"M-m-m-momo!" Uraraka stammered. "W-w-what are you doing here?"

"Izuku texted me, asked me to meet up with you this morning," Momo replied. "So, what was it you needed, Izuku?"

"Ah, not me, but Uraraka," Izuku explained. "She lost her school uniform last night. Do you think you could make one for her."

Momo raised her mirth filled eyes.

"It's not like that!" Izuku countered. Momo just smiled. Izuku felt like he was losing the battle.

"Also, if you could make a copy of my housekey for her, that'd be great," Izuku added, passing his key over to her.

"Wait, your what!?" Momo exclaimed, and Izuku was happy to have the upper hand now.

"My house key. For Uraraka. If she's living there she should have one."

Momo glanced between Uraraka and Izuku with wide, shocked eyes. Her eyes narrowed, trying to determine if she was being tricked, but Uraraka was a pretty easy book to read. Her face was red and she was avoiding looking at anyone.

"I feel like some explaining is in order," Momo said, her voice low.

Izuku filled Momo in on last night's events. Uraraka chimed in here and there, but for the most part she stayed silent. Momo remained passive for most of the story, but her eyes darkened when her father was brought in. She didn't seem overly surprised though, which Izuku found curious. Izuku noticed that Uraraka was holding onto the back of Izuku's jumper by the end of the story. Momo noticed too, smirking at Izuku.

"I think we can say that it was a miracle that Izuku happened to be there," Momo said once the story was finished.

"Actually… why were you there Deku?"

"Well, when I was suspended yesterday, I wasn't really in trouble," Izuku admitted. "I spoke with Nezu, and once I told him my side of the story, he was pretty furious with the others. He had to suspend me though, as he couldn't play favourites."

"I guess that makes sense," Momo stated. "UA's already in quite a bit of strife with the recent events, and All Might's death. Not punishing in school fighting would look very bad."

"I agree," Izuku said, nodding. "More interestingly though, it was Nezu who hinted at me that I should keep an eye on Uraraka."

"Really?" Uraraka asked in surprise. Nezu hadn't seemed overly concerned with Uraraka's wellbeing when he saw her last time.

"Well, not in person. I received a text message from him afterwards," Izuku admitted. "He told me he can't talk freely, as he believed that he's being spied on. When he had your meeting Uraraka, he said that he smelled a third person in the room with you."

"Toru," Uraraka hissed angrily.

"Probably," Izuku admitted. Once again, he noticed that Momo wasn't too surprised by the information.

"Nezu's really smart. He told me he has been analyzing all of the student's behaviour in the school. Of course, everyone will be a little different after All Might's death, but he's cross-referencing previous notes on the students with current attitudes and actions."

"...What?" Uraraka asked blankly. Izuku had lost her.

"He's trying to figure out who's being influenced by villains," Momo explained, her eyes darkening.

"Exactly. Through his data, he discovered that there were one individual who was targeted the most. That was your Uraraka. Nezu was confused as to why, but after seeing me get involved, he believes that the League of Villains was trying to use you to get to me." Izuku glanced at the two girls after he finished explaining. They both had different expressions. Momo looked thoughtful, and confused. Uraraka looked concerned with a slight murderous look in her eyes.

"Why get to you though, you're just a student?" Momo asked. Izuku wanted to tell them, but he hesitated. It wasn't the time, or the place. Who knew who could be listening to them in the middle of the street?

"There's… a reason. That's all I can say for now," Izuku said apologetically. Momo nodded, understanding.

"We'll find a way to talk," Momo said, and Izuku picked up that she also thought this conversation was no longer safe outdoors. "Now, come on Uraraka. Let's get to school. I'll make you a change of clothes in the bathroom."

Momo passed Izuku his house key back, and palmed one off to Uraraka.

"Thanks for walking with me Deku," Uraraka said. She hesitated, before leaping forwards and wrapping him up in a warm hug. Izuku was surprised, but managed to hug her back without freezing in place.

"I'll see you tonight," the brown haired girl said, before stepping away and chasing after Momo.

Izuku watched Uraraka until she was out of sight. The protective part of him didn't want her to leave. What if she needed his help?

She would be alright though. She had Momo. Momo was the most capable girl Izuku had yet met.

Still, the brown haired girl never left his mind as he made his way back home.

* * *

 **Hey all, sorry for the longer upload time. Been doing a bit of thinking about the story. Overall, I'm getting relatively mixed reviews about the whole thing (which is fine! Constructive feedback is great!). I'm thinking of rushing the story to the end, as I do for once in my ff career finish a story, but I also don't want to work on a project that people don't enjoy! So rushing it seems like the optimal solution.**

 **Hope that's ok. Keep on keeping on and watching the anime every week. God knows waiting a full week is hard.  
**

 **Cheers,  
Council**


	6. Chapter 6

**My Hero Academia**  
 **Paying The Price**  
 **Chapter 6: Sinking Steps**

* * *

While Uraraka changed into her school uniform, Momo kept guard outside the bathroom. The recent events had shaken Momo's mind, and she was unsure as to what the next step was. Logically, she knew that she was still a student, and that the current problem extended far beyond her expertise, but she couldn't help but feel involved.

It was a relief to know that the principal, Nezu, appeared to be working behind the scenes. He was incredibly intelligent, and if the rumours were to be believed, as vengeful as he was cute.

It was hard to rely on a new branch of heroes after All Might died, but as long as Nezu was helping them, Momo knew that things would work out.

"Thanks for waiting, Momo!" She turned and was relieved to see that the uniform she had created for Uraraka fit relatively well.

"Of course. We should probably go to class now though," Momo said thoughtfully, glancing around for a clock.

"Mhmm," Uraraka hummed, agreeing happily. Momo smiled at the smaller girl. Uraraka's mind seemed far away right now, and Momo could easily tell who was causing that. She didn't know exactly what had happened between Izuku and the brown haired girl last night, but the two had grown closer together.

They walked into class together just as the bell went. They sat down, waiting for Eraserhead to walk into the classroom. Tenya started calling off attendance, and thus the day began.

The class was full, outside of Izuku, who was still suspended. Kaminari and Sero still sported wounds from the earlier fight. Mineta seemed to be back in normal spirits. Toru sat at the back of the classroom, not saying anything at all. She sat there stiffly, and Momo wondered what was going through the invisible girl's mind.

* * *

The class was interrupted, just before lunch, when a student stepped into the classroom, interrupting Eraserhead and passing him a note.

"So… Ochaco Uraraka, to the principal's office," Eraserhead said, his voice tired and bored.

Uraraka groaned as she heard the class break into whispers. She glanced at Momo, who sat behind her. Momo gave Uraraka a wry smile, before nodding slightly. Uraraka's eyes glanced towards Toru. Last time, the invisible girl had followed her into the meeting with Nezu. Uraraka wanted to be positive that the same thing wouldn't happen.

Toru was sitting in her chair, sitting stiffly, and seemingly ignoring the events in the classroom. It was hard to tell what Toru was thinking, when all she was were shoes, socks, a dress and a top. The important thing was that Toru was in the classroom, and wouldn't be able follow her.

Picking herself up off the chair, Uraraka made her way to the door as fast as she could without looking rushed. She wanted to escape the student's curious eyes as soon as possible.

Unlike the last time, Uraraka wasn't stressed about her meeting with Nezu. The principal still scared her (he was very intimidating), but now that she knew he was on their side, albeit secretly, she felt far more comfortable.

Potentially, the meeting was about her school fees, which were overdue. She had the money though, hidden away at home in her bedroom. Sighing to herself, she realised that she'd somehow have to retrieve that.

She arrived at the principal's door and knocked. Last time he had called out for her to enter, so she waited until he did. She leaned against the wall, watching as various staff members walked past, giving her courteous nods as they continued on their way. Uraraka fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. She felt out of place amongst the adults.

After a minute she knocked again. The quiet echo of the knock pierced through the wooden door.

"I should probably just wait," Uraraka muttered to herself. She remembered how her own father had preferred not be disturbed when his study door was closed. Thoughts of her parents gave her an uncomfortable pit in her stomach though, so she cast her eyes around, looking for something to distract her.

However, the longer she waited, the more anxious she became. Glancing around shiftily to see if anyone was watching, she turned back to the door and twisted the knob slowly. It was unlocked, and the door slipped open easily.

Uraraka cleared her throat, and knocked once more on the door, quite loudly.

"Excuse me, principal Nezu. It's Ochaco Uraraka. I'm coming inside!"

Uraraka pushed the door open the whole way, and as she stepped in, her heart froze.

The white, furry body of Nezu lay butchered on the ground. Fresh blood was pooled around his torso. He was lying on his stomach, his face twisted to the side, eyes dark, empty and unseeing. Several stab marks in the back of his suit appeared to be the cause of the death, but Uraraka couldn't see the weapon.

Uraraka was frozen in the spot. She tried to look away, but the gruesome scene had her mesmerized. She stepped forwards slowly, scanning the room for anything that looked unusual.

Large stacks of paperwork had been pushed off his desk, and papers now littered the room. The chair that Nezu usually sat at was knocked over. It seemed he had been sitting at his desk, taken by surprise and stabbed in the back before he could fight back.

Who had been the culprit though? The window was open. It was possible that they had entered and left through there, but surely Nezu would have seen them.

Suddenly, Uraraka felt very scared. She didn't want to be in this room anymore. Nezu was murdered, and she was the only witness.

Uraraka left the office, closing the door shut behind her. Mrs. Kayama walked by, and nodded at Uraraka in greeting. Uraraka nodded back as calmly as she could, but her insides were shaking. This wasn't a good situation at all. She was the only witness. She needed to tell someone…

Momo! She would tell Momo. Uraraka half-ran back to her class. She slid the door open in a rush without thinking. Everyone in the class turned to face her, and she realised that her flushed cheeks and panicked eyes weren't helping. Momo looked worried, her eyes sharp and analysing. Most of her classmates looked more curious than anything. Mineta was a combination of leering at her, and trying not to make eye contact with her. Deku really had scared him shitless.

Toru sat at the end of the class, still ignoring Uraraka completely. If the clothes were anything to go by, it looked like the invisible girl had barely moved an inch in the last fifteen minutes.

Eraserhead glanced at Uraraka, about to say something reprimanding, but at that moment, the lunch bell rang. Chaos ensued as all of the students dove out of their chairs, grabbing their bags and rushing out of the classroom.

As the class dispersed, Momo approached Uraraka, realising that something was wrong.

"Uraraka, are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost," Momo said softly.

"He's dead Momo. I saw him. He's dead," Uraraka muttered. She hugged her stomach. She felt sick.

"Calm down Uraraka," Momo said, carefully resting a hand on Uraraka's shoulder. "Who's dead? What happened?"

"Nezu's dead. I-" Uraraka began crying, tears dripping down her face. "I walked into the office, and I was alone, and he was on the ground, and there was blood everywhere, and oh god, Momo it was horrible."

Momo grabbed her in a hug and pulled her in, rubbing her back in large reassuring circles. In the background, Momo heard the sound of police and ambulance sirens, nearing the school. The vehicles gave more proof to Uraraka's story, and Momo began thinking about what they had to do.

Uraraka, did you tell anyone else?" Momo asked.

"N-no. Just you," Uraraka said between sniffles.

"Ok. Then we need to tell someone right now. Let's go find Eraserhead." Uraraka nodded her head in agreement. She was glad she had Momo. The girl's cool, logical thinking was the right choice. "Grab your bag. I don't think we'll be coming back to the classroom after this."

Uraraka nodded, and went to her desk. She quickly cleared her belongings, pushing them into the bag and slung it over her shoulder. Nodding at Momo, they quickly made their way to the staffroom.

As the two girls arrived at the staff room, they realised that there was already quite a crowd. Yellow and black police tape cleared off the surrounding area, but students and teachers alike were crowded around the edge. Uraraka saw two pro heroes within the tape, currently talking to one of the UA teachers.

"Sh-should we be here?" Uraraka asked nervously. Momo seemed to hesitate as well, but she reached out for Uraraka's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"It will be worse if we don't tell them your story. Let's go."

Uraraka let Momo lead them through the crowd. As they approached the front, the teacher being interviewed suddenly stopped, and pointed at her. Uraraka froze. It was Mrs. Kayama. One of the pro hero's carefully approached her and Momo.

"Hello miss," the hero said politely, but his body looked tense, ready to react in an instant. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions, if that was alright."

Uraraka glanced at Momo nervously. The taller girl nodded in support, but Uraraka noticed that she was chewing on her lip anxiously as well.

"Sir, my name is Uraraka Ochaco. I was called to the principal's office during class. I knocked on the door, but I didn't get a response. After waiting for about five minutes I opened the door."

Uraraka paused in her story, swallowing strongly. The gruesome scene was still vivid in her mind.

"A-and then I saw… I saw the body… and there was blood everywhere," Uraraka said softly, and the hero leant in to listen.

"And then what happened?" He asked patiently.

"I ran away," Uraraka said. "Back to class to tell someone, but the bell for lunch went, and it was suddenly really busy, and I was really panicked, and I didn't know what to do and-"

"It's alright Uraraka. Breathe." Momo placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, and Uraraka took a deep breath to steady herself. The pro hero was still in front of her, watching her carefully.

"There was no one else who entered the principal's office with you?" The hero questioned.

"N-no," Uraraka replied.

"I see. One moment, miss." The hero stepped away to talk to his partner. Uraraka was feeling very, very scared. The tone that the hero was using with her made it seem like she was a suspect.

"You're innocent. They can't prove anything that didn't happen," Momo said softly. Uraraka turned to her friend and smiled weakly.

"Thanks Momo."

The hero returned, this time with his partner, who was holding a folder full of parchments and paper.

"Miss Uraraka Ochaco. I've been informed that you were to have a meeting with Principal Nezu about your unpaid school fees."

"I wasn't actually informed of why I was meeting him," Uraraka admitted. The hero nodded as he continued to shuffle through papers.

"Nevertheless, the overdue school fees were the reason for the meeting. We are going to search your bag, miss. Do you object?"

"W-what?" Uraraka exclaimed in surprise. It felt like things were spiralling out of control incredibly fast.

"It's just a precautionary measure, miss," the hero said calmly, holding out a hand for her backpack. Slowly, she dragged it off her shoulders and passed it over. It was fine. There was nothing incriminating in her bag. In fact, there was barely anything in it, as it was one of Deku's old bags he had let her borrow this morning.

And yet, Uraraka felt the blood drain from her face as the hero withdrew a long, blood stained steel knife from the main pocked of the bag. The hero examined it for less than a second, dropped it in the bag like it was made of fire, and in an instant had his handcuffs out. Uraraka backed up quickly, but the crowd watching the scene made a wall behind her, and she fell into them. The hero grabbed her by the shoulder, twisted her around, and yanked her wrists together, chaining them shut. Uraraka yelped at the rough treatment, especially when she felt a painful handgrip digging into her shoulder.

"Contact the detectives," the hero told his partner, "we have a prime suspect."

"Keep your hands off of her," Momo cried, leaping forwards. She pulled the lipids in her skin to the surface, forming a solid police baton, and slammed the weapon down on the heroes fist. He let go of Uraraka, swearing in pain as the knuckles fractured.

"Don't interfere in official hero business," the hero snapped, stepping towards her. Momo took a step back, hiding Uraraka behind her, and held the baton defensively in front of her.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" Momo exclaimed, frost coating her words as she stared down the heroes with sharp gray eyes. "I am of the Yaoyorozu family, and if you take one step closer to myself or my friend, I will bring the wrath of my house down on you."

The heroes froze in their tracks, glancing at one another nervously. The one with the folder of papers flicked through them, paling when he stopped on a certain one.

"It checks out," he muttered to his partner. "There is a Momo Yaoyorozu in the 1-A classroom."

"This isn't good. If it really is Yaoyorozu…" The two glanced at Momo, who was looking incredibly threatening. Her eyes were narrowed, she had her arms crossed over her chest, and she was standing tall and proud.

"Call the detectives," Momo ordered. "I want a proper examination performed. I want a lawyer for Uraraka, and I want her handcuffs released immediately."

The heroes blinked in confusion.

"Did I stutter? Now!" Momo shouted. The heroes jumped. One of them dropped the folder of papers, while the other scrambled in his pack for the keys to the handcuffs.

"I'm sorry about before, miss," the hero said to Uraraka, approaching her with the key. "I'll have those off in an instant-"

"You'll do no such thing!"

The hall fell quiet as the powerful male voice rung out. The crowd parted as Yaoyorozu strode forwards, dressed sharply in a well-fitted, expensive looking suit. Why Yaoyorozu was here, Uraraka didn't know, but the situation just seemed to become steadily worse for her.

"You will detain the prime suspect until further orders. Do I make myself clear?" Yaoyorozu ordered. The two heroes looked far more comfortable taking orders from the head of the house, and quickly regained their confidence.

"Father, there has been a mistake. Uraraka isn't guilty." Momo spoke politely, but with forcefulness, urging her father to listen to her.

"Momo, this is official police business. Stay out of it," Yaoyorozu said softly. It was an order.

"Father, I insist. Please listen to me. There is something bigger happening-"

"Enough, Momo!" Momo fell quiet as her father's deadly glare fell onto her. He had sharp, raven hair, just like his daughter, but it was short cut, and framed his angular features. He had cold, gray eyes that dared anyone to disobey him.

Momo glanced behind her. Uraraka was standing proud, trying not to let her fear show, but she was clearly terrified. She had been set up, and if Momo didn't act quickly, Uraraka might never have her name cleared.

Gathering what determination and courage she had left, Momo turned back to her father, a defiant glare in her own brown eyes.

"I demand that you let Uraraka go. She has done nothing wrong, and is innocent of this murder."

"Momo-"

"This knife that you found in her bag? It is impossible for it to be the murder weapon. When Uraraka went to the principal's office, she didn't take her bag with her. Upon returning from the principal's office, I watched her immediately. She never had any moment to put anything in her bag upon returning. Someone else had placed the knife in her bag. I do not know who, but I will stand witness for Uraraka's innocence!"

Teachers and students alike were staring at father and daughter in amazement. A powerful battle of wills was warring between the two. One of the pro heroes coughed softly, having gathered up the paperwork, and spoke up.

"If that is true, then we have no immediate grounds to detain Uraraka Ochaco," the hero said. He was just doing his job, Uraraka realised. He wasn't trying to set her up. Someone else had.

"Fine," Yaoyorozu spat. "Let her go."

As the cold steel around her wrists fell of, Uraraka felt the deep, heavy fear in her heart rise. Momo had saved her. She was going to be ok!

"You, you're coming with me," Yaoyorozu said softly, staring at his daughter.

"Actually, sir, she'll need to come down to the police station and testify," the other hero explained, but he was silenced by the piercing stare from the Yaoyorozu elder.

"She's coming with me." There was no room for argument. His orders were absolute. When Momo didn't respond, he strode forwards, grabbed her by the shoulder, and begun leading her away. Momo walked stiffly, and Uraraka saw the tall girl wince in pain at the tight grip, but she didn't fight her father.

"Well, what are you all doing?" Uraraka glanced up in surprise to see Eraserhead, glaring at all the students. "This isn't a show. Get out of here!" Quickly, the students dispersed, while the remaining teachers and heroes went back to examining the crime scene.

Eventually, Uraraka managed to pull herself away from the scene, but the image of a bloody, stabbed Nezu never left her mind.

* * *

As all secrets do, eventually, the whole school knew about Nezu's unfortunate demise. The mood after lunch was somber and bleak. First All Might had passed away, and now Principal Nezu had been the target of an assassination. Things weren't looking great for UA, or for heroes in general. No official statement had been announced though, and the rumour mill continued to turn rapidly.

Uraraka glanced around the classroom, only half paying attention to Eraserhead. Momo still hadn't returned. Her father had dragged her away after the event, and Uraraka hadn't heard from her friend since. Uraraka was worried, but at the end of the day, the two were family. Momo would be fine.

A small voice in the back or Uraraka's head reminded her of her own family. She pinched the back of her wrist hard with her nails until the tears in her eyes that were threatening to well up disappeared.

It didn't help that Yaoyorozu was the current source of almost all of Uraraka's problems. That in itself was difficult for Uraraka to understand. Surely there were countless more families that Yaoyorozu had lent money to. Had they all been put under as much pressure as Uraraka? Or was there something more to it?

The fact that Yaoyorozu just happened to be at the school while Uraraka was being falsely accused for a crime… it just didn't sit well with her. Now, Uraraka's only ally in the school, Momo, could very well be a hostage to her father.

Thinking about it all made Uraraka's head hurt. She needed to talk to Deku. She hadn't had time to message him during school yet, but she wondered whether news had reached him.

The most critical question continued to swirl around Uraraka's head. Why had Yaoyorozu been at the school? He was well known, incredibly wealthy, and wielded much power, but he had no reason to be at a police investigation.

Uraraka kept her (well, Deku's) backpack underneath her desk, squished between her legs. She was uncertain as to how the knife had found its way in her backpack, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it would have taken someone invisible to do so. She almost wished she still had the knife to examine it, but the pro heroes had confiscated it for their investigation.

With everything on her mind, the day passed agonisingly slow for Uraraka. The school bell rang, signifying the end of the day, and Uraraka quickly dumped her books in her bag and headed out the classroom. She fished into the bag pocket for her pink cell phone. As she opened the flip phone, her heart fluttered briefly as she stared at the picture of Deku on her home screen. She giggled to herself before flicking to the messages.

There was nothing from Momo, which wasn't too unusual, Uraraka supposed. She may have dwelled on it further, but the other message pulled at her focus.

 _Hi Uraraka. I'll be waiting at the front gate for you. I'll see you soon!_

Uraraka hugged the phone to her chest as she made her way down the stairs. Seeing Deku was going to be the best part of her day… Well, maybe waking up in his arms was the best part, but still.

The familiar tuft of green hair raised her spirits, and she grabbed the straps of her backpack and ran the rest of the way to the gate.

"Deekkuu!" Uraraka called as she got closer. Deku glanced up from his own phone, and upon seeing her, burst into a smile.

Uraraka froze in shock when, instead of waving at her, or saying something in response, Deku stepped forwards and wrapped Uraraka up in a large hug. Her body was rigid as a board, the sudden affection shocking her system.

"I'm so glad you're okay Uraraka," Deku murmured in her ear, sending chills down her arms and legs. He let go of her, unfortunately too soon for Uraraka, and she sobered realising that Deku was looking quite pained.

"I heard about Principal Nezu," he said softly. "I was so worried about you. Thank god you're alright."

"Well, I have Momo to thank for that," Uraraka admitted. Deku looked at her, concern in his eyes, and Uraraka retold the day's events to him. As she finished, Deku's eyes were furrowed together, his mind deep in thought. Before he could voice his thoughts, the two were interrupted by a loud, explosive voice.

"Oi, Deku you useless shit!"

The two turned to see the spiky blond haired boy walking towards them. Bakugo's whole body was tense, ready to fire at any moment. Uraraka supposed that that was actually quite normal for Bakugo though.

"Oh, hi Ka-chan. How was school?" Deku's complete ignorance of Bakugo's insults was quite entertaining in itself. If anything, it seemed to make Bakugo even angrier.

"Fuck that useless 'how was school' shit. I wanna ask your girlfriend a question!"

Uraraka's face lit up like tomato, going the brightest red instantly. A glance at Deku notified her that he was also blushing heavily.

"Yo, gravity bitch, you heard anything from the stuck up bitch?" Bakugo asked. Uraraka supposed that this was him being polite.

"Uhh.. the stuck up bitch?" Uraraka asked tentatively.

"Y'know… Momo…" Bakugo spoke quite softly when saying her name, almost as if being heard saying her name would kill him.

"Oh… no, I haven't heard from her since her father took her away," Uraraka admitted. Bakugo nodded slowly, before turning away from them.

"Course you haven't, useless shit. Why don't you send her a message tonight then," Bakugo growled.

"Hey, Ka-chan, don't talk to Uraraka like that," Deku countered angrily.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll leave your girlfriend alone. I'll catch you after the weekend, shitheads."

Uraraka watched as Bakugo walked away alone. If it weren't for his occasional bursts of swearing at other classmates as he passed on by, Uraraka would have thought he might have even been a little sad.

"My suspension lifts on Monday," Deku said thoughtfully, glancing up at the sky.

"It'll be good to have you back at school!" Uraraka said happily, leaning into his side. He smiled at her softly, and Uraraka felt like her heart might explode. His face eventually turned red though, and he quickly pulled himself away, coughing softly.

"I, uh, had to explain a lot of the stuff to mum today," Deku explained, changing the conversation deftly. "She was a bit concerned about me coming home with a girl in nothing but her nightgown."

Now it was Uraraka's turn to blush red and turn away from Deku, coughing into her hands. Deku laughed though, making her realise that she wasn't in any trouble.

"She was very understanding. She's a little angry at your parents, but she's promised not to tell anyone. You're welcome to stay with us for as long as you want," Deku explained. Uraraka felt a small warmth in her chest. It felt nice to be accepted into his family so easily.

"I won't be in the way?" Uraraka asked gently, but Deku laughed, and he reached out with a hand and ruffled the top of her head. She brushed it down, annoyed that he messed up her hair, but secretly pleased with the affection.

"Course not. Now come on, let's watch some movies. I have all the superhero films on DVD. You can pick which one to watch first!"

"...Watch first? Wait, how many are we going to watch?" Uraraka asked in worry, but Deku just continued to laugh at her, and eventually she found the joy contagious, and she settled for smiling with him, walking close by his side as they made their way home.

* * *

"You sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine Deku. Now, leave me alone, I need to concentrate."

Uraraka pulled her hair back behind her into a short ponytail, rolled the sleeves of her shirt up, and begun cracking the eggs. Deku shrugged his shoulders and left the kitchen. Uraraka hummed softly with a small smile on her lips.

Inko had very happily opened up her kitchen to her, and Uraraka was going to take advantage of that to make Deku the best brownies he had ever had in his life!

Or so she hoped.

Either way, the comfortable routine of mixing and stirring ingredients put a happy smile on her face.

She could hear Deku outside in the lounge room. He was fiddling with the various DVD cases, trying to figure out which movie to watch first, and in what order to watch the rest. Uraraka promised herself she'd do her best to stay awake and attentive, but a part of her knew that she was going to fall asleep instantly. Movies did that to her, especially those with lots of action in them.

Uraraka poured the mixture into a baking tray. As she picked it up, she let the tin press against the pads on her hand, and the tray was weightless. She slid the tray through the air, the mixture barely moving, until the tray slid into the oven. Once she was happy with it, she touched her fingers together, and the tray fell with a soft clang.

Inko walked into the kitchen to check on the rice in the rice cooker. She sniffed the air as she walked in, humming in appreciation.

"Smells lovely Ochaco," Inko complimented. Uraraka beamed in response. "Have you set a timer on the oven?"

"Yes Inko," Uraraka replied.

"I'll take it out when it's finished. You go spend some time with Izuku while you're waiting. I think he's getting a bit impatient to start watching movies…"

Uraraka chuckled in response, but thanked Inko and stepped out into the lounge room.

"Oh Uraraka, did you want to start watching the movies in chronological order, or by date of release, or-"

As Deku turned away from the DVD's to look at Uraraka, his green eyes wide in excitement, he froze.

"You look good with your hair up," Deku said automatically. His mind seemed to catch up with his mouth moments later, as he blushed red, turning back to the DVD's.

Uraraka wasn't much better. Her heart was beating a hundred times a minute, and her rosy cheeks were becoming even rosier.

"Thanks Deku," she mumbled softly. She sat down beside him, looking at the movie options. They all seemed the same to her.

"Why don't you choose your favourite?" Uraraka suggested. Deku quickly agreed, grabbed the remote, and hit play. Apparently, his favourite movie was already in the DVD player.

The two watched the movie, separated on the couch by about half a meter. Uraraka wasn't overly interested in the story though, and she found her eyes drifting towards Deku every couple of seconds. She stared at his spattering of freckles under his eyes, at his small nose, at his excited teeth as he chewed on his own lip while watching the movie.

She wanted to close the distance between them. Were they a couple? Definitely not. Did Uraraka want them to be?

...Maybe.

Okay, yes. Definitely yes.

But how forward should she be. She wanted to hold his hand, or even better, rest her head on his shoulder and doze off, hugging one of his lean, muscular arms… the soft feeling of his deltoid pillowing her face… mmm…

She must have stared too long, for Deku turned from the movie to glance at her. She let out a soft 'eep', at being caught, and turned back to the film. Her heart began thumping in her ears however when Deku shuffled over on the couch towards her.

She slowly turned back to face him, her neck as rigid as a block of wood. She tried to smile, but not make it a forced smile that would scare him off. Just a casual smile.

It was hard to know if it worked.

He brought a hand up slowly, his gentle fingers reaching towards her cheek. Her face was steaming. She could physically feel her cheeks boiling. Was he going to hold her side, pull her in and kiss her?

This was too fast! Yes, this was what she wanted, but she had to prepare herself first. She wasn't mentally sane enough for this level of affection.

His fingers touched her cheekbone, and she sighed, leaning into his touch. She let her eyes flutter shut. She may not have kissed someone before, but she knew that the first step was to always close your eyes.

She waited, lips slightly parted, heavy, warm breaths escaping softly.

She was slightly confused, therefore, when instead of a soft caress, she felt his thumb rubbing roughly against her jaw.

"There you go, got it for you," Deku replied easily. Uraraka's brown eyes flicked open in surprise.

"Wha…?"

"You had some flour, just here," Deku said, pointing to his own chin to explain. Uraraka's mouth was open in disbelief. When she didn't respond, Deku coughed awkwardly, turning away from her.

"You idiot!" Uraraka shouted, grabbing a nearby pillow and whacking him with it. He cried out in surprise, bringing his hands up to stop the successive blows. Uraraka knew she was being unfair, but her emotions were so shook she needed to vent.

"What did I do? Ah, stop, help!" Deku curled backwards, trying to cover his face and his sides with his arms as she continued to wallop him with the pillow.

"Think. Before. You do things. To a girl." Uraraka exclaimed, punctuating each word with a hit of the pillow. Suddenly, his hands shot out and grabbed her wrists. In a deft movement, he flung her onto her back, disarmed her of her weapon (the pillow), and locked her down on the couch.

"Hah, I win," Deku exclaimed proudly. Uraraka's emotions were all fizzled out from earlier to care about their compromising position, but Deku seemed to realise. His face was inches from her own, and his body weight was pressing down on her legs and wrists. She felt both suppressed and reassured by his strength. Deku eyes widened as he stared deep into her chocolate eyes, but he didn't jerk away like he usually would. Instead, he seemed to move every so slightly closer to her, his motions as if he were hypnotised.

Uraraka was very aware of her heavy breathing. The rise and fall of her chest was prominent, and her body felt warm and tingly underneath him. Deku was breathing heavily too, and something seemed to change in his eyes. The emerald orbs focused on her lips, and he leaned in.

"Kids, the brownies are ready!" Inko burst around the corner, kitchen apron flying to the side, a plate full of warm, chocolatey goodness swaying on the plate.

"I took them out of the oven a minute before the alarm because I thought they'd be- OH MY GOD!"

Deku leapt backwards as if he had been struck by electricity. Uraraka grabbed the nearest pillow and clutched it to her chest, trying to bury herself beneath it. Inko stood there, eyes wide in shock, the tray of brownies frozen in the air.

"Umm, Inko, I'm sorry for doing something like that in your household," Uraraka said meekly from behind the pillow.

"NO!" Inko shouted, before quieting herself. "I'm sorry I interrupted Izuku's first kiss… Oh my god that was probably going to be his only kiss ever and I ruined it!"

"Mum! Don't say stuff like that!" Deku shouted from the corner of the couch, his face red in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I'll leave, and we can re-enact the scene!" Inko suggested frantically. She ran back around to the kitchen. Several seconds later she reappeared, much calmer, carrying the tray of brownies into the room once again. She stopped, staring at the two teenagers who were still on opposite ends of the couch.

"This isn't re-enacting the scene at all! You're both terrible at this!"

"Can we just have the brownies mum?" Deku shouted frantically.

"No! Not until you re-enact the scene!" Inko replied furiously.

"Why is this happening?" Uraraka cried in desperation.

* * *

"Have you heard anything from Momo?" Deku asked while they were eating breakfast. Once again, Inko had outdone herself and cooked up a feast for them.

Uraraka fished into her pyjama pockets (pants that had pockets!) and grabbed the pink cell phone that Momo had made for her personally.

"...No, she hasn't replied to my messages yet," Uraraka said, her voice tinged with disappointment and concern. "I hope she's alright."

"She will be," Deku replied reassuringly. "Even if her father has been at the middle of all this sketchy business later, they're still family. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her."

"Yeah… of course you're right," Uraraka said softly. Her mind drifted to her own parents, who had been so willing to use her as a method to get out of debt.

Her old cell phone was gone. Her parents had no way of contacting her. Were they worried? Were they sorry? Or was it a relief now that she was out of their lives.

"We could always drop by. See how they're going?" Uraraka's eyes snapped up to Deku as he spoke. Could he read her mind all of a sudden? She hoped not, otherwise he'd know that she'd secretly been watching him work out shirtless in his room yesterday and that she wanted nothing more than to run her hands over his shirtless body-

"Uraraka?" Deku asked. She blossomed red, steam pouring out her ears, as she turned away from the inquisitive green eyes.

"It's ok… I do want to see them… just, not yet," Uraraka said, once she'd calmed down.

Deku nodded in response, and the two went back to eating their breakfast in quiet. However, Uraraka couldn't help her eyes drifting over to the green haired boy, and quietly fantasising about her crush.

"I'll pick you up from school again, alright?"

Deku was waiting outside the school gates, dressed in his casual jeans and shirt. Uraraka was in her school uniform, heading back into school.

"I wish you weren't suspended," Uraraka complained quietly. She wanted Deku at school with her. The weekend had gone too quickly. She had felt safe with him, and being away from his at school made her nervous.

"I know. One more day though," Deku promised. When Uraraka didn't cheer up, he boldly decided to make a move. He stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around her in a large, warm, encompassing hug. Uraraka had never felt more at peace as she snuggled her rosy cheeks into his chest. She wanted to stay there forever, never leaving his comforting embrace.

Unfortunately, he let go, and gave her shoulders a soft push.

"You've got this. I'll be here when you get out."

Uraraka gave Deku the largest smile she could. Her cheeks felt like they were about to burst with how much they were stretching.

"Thanks Deku. You're the best!" Uraraka called over her shoulder, running to class, her short skirt swaying back and forth as her hips swang.

Deku watched her, his eyes darting from her toned thighs to her bouncing hair, until she was out of sight.

This time, he didn't leave to go home. Instead, he found a spot less than a hundred meters away, in which he could still see the school gates, and settled himself down.

If anything happened at UA today, he'd be there in time.

Uraraka was never going to have to face anything on her own again.

* * *

Uraraka sat in the assembly hall. An announcement had been made for an urgent school gathering. The UA students sat in the chairs, impatiently waiting for the news. Soft chattering filled the air as friends gossiped about recent events.

The room fell silent when Eraserhead made his appearance at the front stage. He walked to the podium, tapping the microphone with his finger softly to test that it was working.

"Erm… thank you everyone for your patience this morning," Eraserhead began.

"The last few weeks have been quite… turbulent. I'm sure there are many rumours passing through the school, and I would like to clarify things before they get out of hand."

"First, it is with a sad heart that I must announce that Nezu, the UA principal, passed away yesterday."

"Passed away?" Uraraka muttered to herself. Murdered, was more realistic. The multiple stab wounds, and red blood staining Nezu's white fur didn't quite seem to fit the words 'passed away'.

"This is a tragic blow to the school. In addition to the recent loss of All Might, there has been much speculation about the safety, and quality of our school."

Eraserhead paused, and it looked to Uraraka like he was considering his next words carefully. He seemed to be somehow conflicted, but when he spoke, his voice was confident.

"It is during these uncertain times that we must be confident. We must trust each other, and rely upon the loyalty we have built. Although the loss of our late principal has created a void that is impossible to fill, I am at least pleased to announce that we will have an immediate, if temporary, replacement."

Muttering filled the hall as students began whispering to each other. Who was the new principal? Was it one of the current teachers? A pro-hero? Would it be someone that they knew?

The whispers died immediately as footsteps resounded against the wooden floorboard of the stage. Wearing polished shoes, and an immaculate (and expensive looking) black suit, the new principal walked towards the podium. With a nod, Eraserhead stepped away from the microphone, sinking into the background.

The man stood tall, taller than Eraserhead had. He grabbed the bend of the microphone, and tilted it up to reach him. Razor sharp gray eyes pierced the crowd as he slowly turned his head. His raven black hair was short, and styled back. His whole demeanor spoke of sharp, ruthless, and a man that could get the job done.

"I am Yaoyorozu, and from today onwards, I will be your new Principal."

There was a scattering of claps from the audience. Many people knew the name, whether from Momo, or whether from the large monopoly that Yaoyorozu owned. Uraraka tore her eyes away from those sharp, gray eyes, and scanned the crowd, desperately looking for Momo. No matter where she looked, she couldn't see the kind girl anywhere.

Gulping, she slowly turned her head back to the stage, and found that Yaoyorozu was staring directly at her. Uraraka flinched, like a rabbit caught in the gaze of an eagle.

"Thank you for your warm welcome."

* * *

 **A bit of a delay, but a bit longer to make up for it. Also fluff. Yay.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews friendo's and friendarina's. After reading the range of reviews, I'm going to keep with the story, but I am going to pick up the pace regardless. Hopefully though, it will feel eventful, without feeling rushed.**

 **Also, I think I've got an ice addiction. Not like, the drug, but like ice-cubes. Just can't stop chomping on them.**

 **Anyway, hope you like the update. Review and I'll mail you some ice. Not telling which kind.**

 **Cheers,**

 **Council.**


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